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 Home Links  Newsletter21 Jul. 2008   








Talking about Telling the Time...


Take care of the minutes, for hours will take care of themselves ...

Let's look at ways of saying the time of day ...

Listen to  Asking What Time It Is:
Listen to What time is it? Have you got the time?
Listen to What’s the time? What time do you make it?
Listen to Do you have the exact time? Could you tell me the time?


Listen to  Saying What Time It Is:
Listen to There are the following common ways of saying what time it is.
Listen to 9.00 nine o’clock
Listen to 9.05 nine (oh) five or five past nine
Listen to 9.10 nine ten or ten past nine
Listen to 9.15 nine fifteen or a quarter past nine
Listen to 9.25 nine twenty-five or twenty-five past nine
Listen to 9.30 nine thirty or half past nine
Listen to 9.45 nine forty-five or a quarter to ten
Listen to 9.50 nine fifty or ten to ten
Listen to 9.58 nine fifty eight or nearly ten o'clock


Listen to To tell someone what time it is, we can say "The time is..." or, more usually, "It's...".
Listen to Here is a typical dialogue: Question: What time is it, please? Answer: It's nine o'clock.

Listen to Americans often write a colon between the hours and the minutes: 9:50.

Listen to The expression o’clock is only used at the hour. – Let’s meet at eight (o’clock).

Listen to Past is often dropped from half past in informal speech (for example See you at half eight. = …. half past eight.)


Listen to  Day and Night

Listen to There are 24 hours in a day. The day is divided into daytime and nighttime. Every day starts at midnight. If necessary, times can be distinguished by using in the morning, afternoon or evening. In the more formal style we use am (= Latin – ante meridiem = before noon) and pm (= Latin – post meridiem = after noon).


Listen to The twenty-four clock is used mainly in timetables and official announcements. In ordinary speech, people usually use the twelve-hour clock.

Listen to  Some useful expression:
Listen to The clock is five minutes fast or slow.
Listen to at exactly five o’clock
Listen to at five o’clock sharp
Listen to by five o’clock at the latest
Listen to at midnight
Listen to about five o’clock
Listen to until ten o’clock
Listen to before noon



 




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