Referring to Parts of the Day

6-min Lesson

Common Mistakes in English

Quick Tips

This lesson is a quick tip to help you avoid mistakes that can make your
English sound unnatural. I’ll explain them and tell you what you should say
instead.

THE MISTAKE IS SAYING “TODAY MORNING.”

It’s really confusing, because we can say “yesterday morning” and “tomorrow
morning,” like this:

● Yesterday morning I went to the gym.

● Tomorrow morning I’ll go shopping.
But when it comes to today, we DON’T say “today morning” – instead, we say
“this morning.”

Here are some examples:

● This morning I had a meeting with my boss.

● I woke up really early this morning.
● Did you remember to take out the trash this morning?
(In these cases, we’re speaking in the afternoon or evening of the same day –
so it’s still today, it’s still “this morning,” but the verbs are in the past – had,
woke, did)
We can also say “this morning” when we’re speaking early in the morning of
the same day, and the event is still in the future.

So I might wake up and have breakfast with my husband around 7 AM, and
say these things:

● This morning I have a meeting with my boss

(still in the future – it’s scheduled for 9:00)
● I’m going to take the car to the mechanic this morning
(I’m going to do this at 10:30)
● Please remember to take out the trash this morning!
(Do it sometime before noon or before lunch)

But again, we always say “this morning” and never “today morning” when
talking about the morning hours on the same day we’re speaking.

DON’T SAY “6 AM IN THE MORNING”

Finally, one more related mistake is to say 6 AM in the morning. We can say “6
AM” or “6 in the morning” but not both together. Here are some examples:

● This morning I had a yoga class at 9 AM.

● Today I woke up at 6 in the morning. (we can say “today” at the
beginning of the sentence, and then “6 in the morning” later in the
sentence, but again we don’t say “today morning” together)
● Tomorrow morning I’m meeting my friend for breakfast at 8 AM.
● Yesterday a telemarketer called me at 7 in the morning!

FINAL REVIEW
● We always say “this morning” and never “today morning.”
● When talking about a specific time, we can say “6 AM” or “6 in the
morning” but not “6 AM in the morning.”