Time expressions and prepositional phrases Specific times

5.84 Specific time expressions are used as complements when you want to state the current time, day, or year.

'Well what time is it now?'—'It's one o'clock'.

It was a perfect May morning.

Six weeks isn't all that long ago, it's January.

They are also often used in prepositional phrases to say when something happened, or when it is expected to happen.

I got there at about 8 o'clock.

The submarine caught fire on Friday morning.

That train gets in at 1800 hours.

clock times 5.85 Clock times are usually expressed in terms of hours and parts of an hour or minutes, for example 'one o'clock', 'five minutes past one', 'one twenty', 'half past one'. The day is usually divided into two sets of twelve hours, so it is sometimes necessary to specify which set you mean by adding 'a.m.', 'p.m.', or a prepositional phrase such as 'in the morning' or 'in the evening'.

In many official contests, a twenty-four hour system is used.

If the hour is known, only the minutes are specified: 'five past, ten to, quarter to, half past' and so on. 'Midday' and 'noon' are occasionally used.

times of the day 5.86 The most frequently used words for periods of the day are 'morning', 'afternoon', 'evening', and 'night'. There are also some words which refer to the rising and seeing of the sun, such as 'dusk' and 'sunset', and others which refer to mealtimes.

On a warm, cloudy evening, Colin went down to the river.

They seem to be working from dawn to dusk.

Most of the trouble comes outside the classroom, at break-time and dinner-time.

Here is a list of words that are used to talk about periods of the day:

morning afternoon evening night ~ dawn

daybreak first light sunrise dusk sunset nightfall

~ daytime night-time breakfast-time break-time lunchtime

teatime dinnertime suppertime bedtime

naming days 5.87 The seven days or the week are proper nouns:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Sunday

Thursday Friday Saturday

Saturday and Sunday are often referred to as 'the weekend', and the other days as 'weekdays'.

A few days in the year have special names, for example:

New Year's Day St Valentine's Day Good Friday

Easter Monday Halloween Christmas Eve

Christmas Day Boxing Day New Year's Eve

You can also name a day by giving its date using an ordinal number/

'When does your term end?'—'First of July'.

The Grand Prix is to be held here on the 18th July.

Her season of films continues until October the ninth.

You can omit the month if it is clear from the context which month you are referring to.

So Monday will be the seventeenth.

St Valentine's Day is on the fourteenth.

There is more information about ordinals in the Reference Section.

5.88 The twelve months of the year are also proper nouns:

January February March April

May June July August

September October November December

There are four seasons: 'spring', 'summer', 'autumn' ('fall in American English) and 'winter'. 'Springtime', 'summertime' and 'wintertime' are also used.

Some periods of the year have special names: for example, 'Christmas', 'Easter', and 'the New Year'.

5.89 Years are referred to in English by numbers.

...the eleventh of January, 1967.

A second conference was held in February 1988.

My mother died in 1945.

To refer to periods longer than a year, decades (ten years) and centuries (a hundred years) are used. Decades start with a year ending in zero and finish with a year ending in nine: 'the 1960s' (1960 to 1969), 'the 1820s' (1820 to 1829). If the century is already known, it can be omitted: 'the 20s', 'the twenties', 'the Twenties'.

To be more specific, for example in historical dates, 'AD' is added before or after the numbers for years or centuries after Christ is believed to have been born: '1650 AD', 'AD 1650', 'AD 1650-53', '1650-53 AD'. 'BC' is added after the numbers for years or centuries before Christ is believed to have been born: '1500 BC', '12-1500 BC'.

Centuries start with a year ending in two zeroes and finish with a year ending in two nines. Ordinals are used to refer to them. The 'first century' was from '0 AD' to '99 AD', the 'second century' was '100-199 AD', and so on, so the period '1800-1899 AD' was the 'nineteenth century' and we are currently in the 'twentieth century' (1900-1999 AD). Centuries can also be written using number: 'the 20th century'.

5.90 If you want to say when something happens, you use 'at' with clock times, periods of the year, and periods of the day except for 'morning', 'evening', 'afternoon', and 'daytime'.

Our train went at 2.25.

It's on Radio Four at ten to eight tomorrow evening.

We were in Dunfermline at twenty five past.

You should go to church at Easter and Christmas.

I went down and fetched her back at the weekend.

On Tuesday evening, just at dusk, Brody had received an anonymous phone call.

He regarded it as his duty to come and read to me at bedtime.

At night we kept them shut up in a wire enclosure.

Let the fire burn out now. Who would see smoke at night-time anyway?

You can also use 'at' with 'time' and similar words such as 'moment' and 'juncture' and with units of clock time such as 'hour' and 'minute'.

General de Gaulle duly attended the military ceremony at the appointed time.

It was at this juncture that his luck temporary deserted him.

If I could have done it at that minute I would have killed him.

There were no lights at this hour, and roads, bungalows and gardens lay quiet.

'at' for relating events 5.91 You can also use 'at' when you want to relate the time of one event to another event such as a party, journey, election, and so on.

I had first met Kruger at a party at the British Embassy.

She represented the Association at the annual meeting of the American Medical Association in Chicago.

It is to be reopened at the annual conference in three weeks' time.

5.92 'At' is also used with ages, stages of development, and points within a larger period of time:

At the age of twenty, she married another Spanish dancer.

He left school at seventeen.

At an early stage of the war the British Government began recruiting a team of top mathematicians and electronics experts.

We were due to return to the United Kingdom at the beginning of March.

'in' for periods of time 5.93 If you want to mention the period of time in which something happens, you use 'in' with centuries, years, seasons, months, and the periods of the day 'morning', 'afternoon' and 'evening'. You also use 'in' with 'daytime' and 'night-time'.

In the sixteenth century there were three tennis courts.

It's true that we expected a great deal in the sixties.

Americans visiting Sweden in the early 1950's were astounded by its cleanliness.

If you were to go on holiday on the continent in wintertime what sport could you take part in?

To be in Cornwall at any time is a pleasure, to be here in summer is a bonus.

I get strange feelings in the autumn.

She will preside over the annual meeting of the Court in December.

In September I travelled to California to see the finished film.

I'll ring the agent in the morning.

Well, she does come in to clean the rooms in the day-time.

Note that if 'morning', 'afternoon', and 'evening' are used with a modifier or a qualifier, you use 'on'. See paragraph 5.95 for details.

'in' for specific time 5.94 'In' is also used when you want to specify a period of time, minutes, hours, days, and so on, using an ordinal.

Vehicle sales in the first eight months of the year have plunged by 24.4 per cent.

...in the early hours of the morning.

'In' is also used with some other nouns referring to events and periods of time.

My father was killed in the war.

Everyone does unusual jobs in wartime.

In the holidays older children can cook something simple for themselves when they deign to turn up.

Two people came to check my cabin in my absence.

Ordinals are explained in paragraphs 2.249 to 2.256.

5.95 If you want to mention the day when something happens, you use 'on'. You can do this with named days, with days referred to by ordinals, and with days referred to by a special term such as 'holiday' or 'anniversary'.

I'll send the cheque round on Monday.

Everybody went to church on Christmas Day.

I hear you have bingo on Wednesday.

Pentonville Prison was set up on Boxing Day, 1842.

He was born on 3 April 1925 at 40 Grosvenor Road.

...the grey suit Elsa had bought for him on his birthday.

Many of Eisenhower's most cautious commanders were even prepared to risk attack on the eighth or ninth.

...addressing Parliament on the 36th anniversary of his county's independence.

You can use 'the' with named days for emphasis or contrast, and 'a' to indicate any day of that name.

He died on the Friday and was buried on the Sunday.

It is unlucky to cut your nails on a Friday.

You also use 'on' with 'morning', 'afternoon', 'evening', and 'night' when they are modified or qualified.

...at 2.30 p.m. on a calm afternoon.

There was another important opening on the same evening.

When she arrived at the court on the morning of the event, her voice had vanished.

It's terribly good of you to turn out on a night like this.

5.96 'On' is also used with words indicating travel such as 'journey', 'trip', 'voyage', 'flight' and 'way' to say when something happened.

But on that journey, for the first time, Luce's faith in the eventual outcome was shaken.

Eileen was accompanying her father to visit friends made on a camping trip the year before.

5.97 'On' can be used in a slightly formal way with nouns and 'ing'-forms referring to actions or activities to indicate that one event occurs after another.

I shall bring the remaining seven hundred pounds on my return in eleven days.

On being called 'young lady', she laughed.

5.98 On the few occasions when people have to specify a time and date exactly, for example in legal English or formal documents, the usual order is: clock time, followed by period of day, day of the week, and date.

...at eight o'clock on the morning of 29 October 1618.

...on the night of Thursday July 16.