What’s the Time in English?

Time Formal but easier way Say the hours first and then the minutes 7: seven forty-five For minutes 01 through 09, you can pronounce the ‘0’ as oh. 11: eleven (oh) six

Time More popular way Say the minutes first and then the hours. Use past and the preceding(precede v t. 在.. 之 前发生, 先于 ; 领先 ) hour for minutes 01 through 30. Use to and the forthcoming (adj. 即 将到来的, 现成的, 乐于助人的. n. 来临, 临近 ) hour for minutes 31 through 59, but fifteen minutes past seven fifteen minutes to eight Another possibility of saying ‘15 minutes past’ is : a quarter (n. 四分之一 ; 一刻钟 ) past Another possibility of saying ’15 minutes to’ is: a quarter to Another possibility of saying ’30 minutes past’ is: half past 5: half past five

Watch Use o’clock only at the full hour. 7: seven o’clock 7: ten past seven In English ordinary speech, the twelve-hour clock is used. 17: twenty past five For times around midnight or midday you can use the expressions midnight or midday / noon instead of the number 12 00:00 – midnight (n. 午夜, 子夜 ) 12:00 – midday (n. 中午, 正午 ) or noon (n. 晌午 ; 正午 )

Note To make clear whether you mean a time before 12 o’clock noon or after, you can use in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, at night. Use in the morning before 12 o’clock noon. Use in the afternoon after 12 o’clock noon. When to change from afternoon to evening, from evening to night and from night to morning depends on your sense of time. 3:15 a quarter past three in the morning a quarter past three at night Note

More formal expression to indicate whether a time is before noon or after are a.m. and p.m.. Use these expression only with the formal way of telling the time. 3: three fifteen a.m. It is not usual to use a.m. and p.m. with past/to. 3:15 fifteen minutes past three A quarter past three

English Dates

Dates in Written English British English In British English the day is usually put before the month if you wish, you can add the ending of the ordinal number. The preposition of before the month is usually dropped. You can put a comma before the year, but this is not common anymore in British English. 5( th ) (of) October (,) 2004 American English In American English the month is usually put before the day if you wish, you can put the definite article before the day. It is common to write a comma before the year. October (the) 5(th),2004 Using digits You can also write the date by using numbers only. The most common forms are: 5/10/04 or

Dates in Spoken English If you put the day before the month, use the definite article before the day and the preposition of before the month. 5 October 2004 – the fifth of October, two thousand and four If you put the month before the day, use the definite article before the day in British English, In American English, the definite article can be dropped. October 5, 2004 – October (the) fifth, two thousand and four

Years From 2000 onwards, years are pronounced like ordinary cardinal numbers – two thousand 2003 – two thousand and three Earlier years are pronounced differently : The first two figures are a number and the last two figures are a number. They can be joined by hundred and, which is only necessary, however,if the last two figures are 00 through – nineteen (hundred and) ninety-nine eighteen hundred and six eighteen oh six If you want to give the year without an exact date, use the preposition in : I was born in 1972.

Months and Days of the Week Moths are abbreviated (abbreviate v. 缩写 ) as follows: MonthAbbreviationMonthAbbreviation JanuaryJanJuly- FebruaryFebAugustAug MarchMarSeptemberSept AprilAprOctoberOct May-NovemberNov June-DecemberDec

Months and Days of the Week Days of the week are abbreviated (abbreviate v. 缩写 ) as follows: DayAbbreviation MondayMon TuesdayTue WednesdayWed ThursdayThu FridayFri SaturdaySat SundaySun

Date Generator m- up/vocabulary/date/generator m- up/vocabulary/date/generator Spoken Apirl the nineteenth, two thousand and thousand and sixteen The nineteenth of April two thousand and sixteen