Telling Time

In the U.S., time is usually told on the 12, rather than 24-hour clock. Distinctions between morning, afternoon, and evening are made by adding a.m. or p.m. 2 p.m. is therefore two o"clock in the afternoon; 6 a.m. is six o"clock in the morning.

HERE ARE SOME USEFUL EXPRESSIONS RELATED TO TIME:

-- What time is it? - It"s 11 p.m.

-- Do you have the time? - Yes, it"s 12 noon.

-- What time should I arrive? - Around 3 p.m.

-- How much time will it take? -No more than 20 minutes.

When referring to 12:00 at night, you can say midnight. When referring to 12:00 during the day, you can say noon.

Here are some examples of how to express time in English:

-- If it"s 10:15 you could say either

It"s quarter past (after) ten.
OR: It"s ten fifteen.

-- If it"s 5:30, you could say either

It"s half past five.
OR: It"s five thirty.

-- If it"s 8:45, you could say either

It"s quarter till nine.
OR: It"s eight forty-five.

For all other times, simply list the hour first, then the number of minutes:

It"s 3:25 = It"s three twenty-five.

It"s 10:35 = It"s ten thirty-five
OR: It"s twenty-five till eleven.

Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns

To differentiate between things in English, use either:

this
that
these
those

Any of these demonstratives can be used with a noun or by itself. This (singular) and these (plural) refer to something or someone close at hand. That (singular) and those (plural) refer to something or someone a bit farther away.

EXAMPLES:

--Do you want this box or that box?

--I"d like some of that popcorn.

--Do you want these or those?

--This apartment is nicer than that one

Possessives

To indicate possession in English, you will use either the preposition of or the -"s form. The latter is used much more frequently in informal English.

--This is the office of the attorney.
-->This is the attorney"s office.

--Here is the desk of Mr. Young.
-->Here is Mr. Young"s desk.

--I know the family of Mrs. Jones.
-->I know Mrs. Jones"s family.

Note the change in word order when the -"s form is used. The owner is listed first, followed by the thing owned.

Possessive Pronouns

Here are the possessive pronouns in English:

1st person, singular -- mine

3rd person, singular -- his, hers, its

1st person, plural -- ours

2nd person, sing./pl. -- yours

3rd person, plural -- theirs

In English, the gender and number of the possessor determines the form of the possessive pronoun:

--I have a bicycle. It"s mine.

--They have some bread. It"s theirs.

NOTE: Often the subject of the verb is not the person who owns the noun. Be careful about this. You must know the gender and number of the owner to be able to use possessive pronouns correctly:

--Are you driving his car or hers?

--We"re driving hers.