General English

3 Meeting
rd

(Telling Time)

Vidya Arisandi, S.Pd., M.Li

Telling time
Telling time
Choose
which
clock to
use

Use ‘at’ for

specific Only use
times and
‘in’ for o’clock up
to 12
periods of
time
How to
tell time
in English?

Use ‘quarter’ We only

for 15 have a ‘half
minutes
before or past, never
after the hour a ‘half to’
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Today
Now/right now
Yesterday
Last day
Las week
Tomorrow
The day before
The day after
Last month
Last year
Today is Sunday Later
Tomorrow is Monday Etc…
Yesterday was Saturday
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For 12:00 there are Three

expressions in English

twelve o'clock

midday = noon

midnight
O'clock
We use o'clock when there are NO minutes.
10:00 - It's ten o'clock
5:00 - It's five o'clock
1:00 - It's one o'clock
Telling time
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Telling time
There are two common ways of telling the time.

Say the hour first and then the minutes. (Hour + Minutes)

6:25 - It's six twenty-five

8:05 - It's eight O-five (the O is said like the letter O)
9:11 - It's nine eleven
2:34 - It's two thirty-four
Telling time

Say the minutes first and then the hour.  (Minutes + PAST / TO + Hour)

• For minutes 1-30 we use PAST after the minutes.

• For minutes 31-59 we use TO after the minutes.

2:35 - It's twenty-five to three

11:20 - It's twenty past eleven
4:18 - It's eighteen past four
8:51 - It's nine to nine
2:59 - It's one to three
Telling time

• When it is 15 minutes past the hour we normally say: (a) quarter past
7:15 - It's (a) quarter past seven

• When it is 15 minutes before the hour we normally say: a quarter to

12:45 - It's (a) quarter to one

• When it is 30 minutes past the hour we normally say: half past

3:30 - It's half past three (but we can also say three-thirty)
Cont.Telling time
 Cont.Telling time: Dialogue practice
(A) Secretary (B) Caller

(A) Hello. Haramaya University. Academic Vice-President’s Office. How can I help you?

(B) This is Steven Jones. Could I speak to the Academic Vice-President, please?

(A) I’m sorry – I’m afraid he’s out at the moment. Can I take a message?

(B) Yes. Could you ask him to call me back? I need to talk to him about the workshop next week - it’s urgent. Here is my office phone number – 025 6610918.

(A) Could you repeat the number for me, please?

(B) Of course, it’s 025 6610918.

(A) Thank you – and could you also spell your name for me?

(B) No problem – this is Steven Jones – S T E V E N J O N E S.

(A) Thank you. Let me repeat that - your name is Steven Jones and your office phone number is 025 6610918.

(B) That’s correct.

(A) Thank you Mr. Jones - I’ll make sure he gets this message as soon as he gets back.

(B) Bye! Thanks for your help!

(A) You’re welcome. Goodbye!