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7 Top Tips on Writing the Fourth dimension

As anyone who has turned up for a midday meeting at midnight will tell yous, clarity is vital when writing the fourth dimension of twenty-four hours. But at that place are many ways to write the time, and the best approach isn't e'er obvious. We have a few tips to assistance, though.

1. Words or Numerals?

You can write the fourth dimension of day using either words or numerals. If you are using numerals, you would normally include both hours and minutes, although y'all tin can omit the minutes in less formal writing.

For instance, all the following would be acceptable:

She gets upwards at six in the morning every twenty-four hour period.

She gets upward at 6:00 in the morning every 24-hour interval.

She gets upwards at 6 o'clock in the forenoon every day.

As a rule, though, you would only write out the time every bit words when:

• It is part of a full judgement, particularly in descriptive or literary writing.
• Using a 12-hr clock (never with a 24-hour clock).
• You're referring to an estimate or circular time (e.m., saying "ten thirty" is fine, but you would non commonly write "twenty-iv minutes after eight").

In most other cases, numerals are the clearer choice for writing the time, peculiarly in scientific and technical writing, where precision is vital.

2. AM and PM

The abbreviations AM and PM tin can be used when writing the time every bit numerals. Each applies to a different time of twenty-four hours:

• AM is short for ante meridiem, pregnant "before noon."
• PM is brusk for post meridiem, meaning "after noon."

As such, nosotros use AM and PM to indicate the time of twenty-four hour period when nosotros are using a 12-hour clock. We tin see how this works more clearly if we write out diverse times of day in both 12-hour and 24-hr formats:

Time	12-Hour Clock	24-Hour Clock
Midnight	12:00 AM	00:00
Iii in the morning	03:00 AM	03:00
Half past viii in the morning	08:30 AM	08:xxx
Midday	12:00 PM	12:00
Three in the afternoon	03:00 PM	xv:00
Half past viii in the evening	08:30 PM	20:30

You can see here that we need AM and PM with the twelve-hour clock for clarity. Without them, we wouldn't be able to tell the difference between, east.one thousand., midday and midnight. Likewise, though, you lot do non need to include AM or PM with a 24-hour time considering it is already clear.

At that place are also several means to write AM and PM, including:

• ALL CAPS, small caps, or lower example (e.g., 12 AM, 12 AM, or 12 am)
• With or without periods between the messages (due east.chiliad., 8 PM or 8 P.M.)
• With or without a space later on the number (eastward.chiliad., 1 AM or 1AM)

Consistency is key here, so make sure to apply one style throughout your document. You may too want to check your fashion guide if you lot have one, as some organizations will have their own rules for how to write AM and PM.

3. When to Use O'clock

Yous'll have noticed we use "o'clock" in ane of the examples above. This term means "of the clock," so we can use it to show that a number refers to a fourth dimension.

Notwithstanding, y'all should only employ "o'clock" with exact hours:

It is precisely 5 o'clock. ✔

I'chiliad leaving at seven o'clock. ✔

It arrived at 7:34 o'clock. ✘

The gig starts at half past seven o'clock. ✘

We'll save a word of when wine o'clock is for another blog mail.

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4. By, Later, Till, and To

When writing the time every bit words, use "after," "by," and "to" for intervals betwixt hours. You tin combine these terms with either numbers or the words "half" and "quarter" depending on the time in question:

• Use afterward or past for intervals upwards to one-half an hour past the hour.
• Use to for any interval after the one-half hour up to the hour.
• Use one-half past to signal 30 minutes past the hr.
• Use quarter past or quarter afterward for 15 minutes after the 60 minutes.
• Use quarter to for xv minutes up to the hr.

For instance, we would use the above accordingly in the following times:

vii:05 → Five after seven

seven:15 → Quarter by seven

7:xxx → Half past 7

7:45 → Quarter to eight

7:55 → V to 8

Proceed in mind that using "after" for times is simply standard in American English. In other English language dialects, "past" is far more common.

5. Punctuating the Time

When writing the time equally numerals, yous tin can utilize either a colon or a period between the hour and the minutes. In some cases, such every bit in the military, you can even write out a 24-hour time without any punctuation.

For instance, the following are all acceptable ways of punctuating a time:

Nosotros need to exit past 6:45 pm at the latest. ✔

We need to leave past 6.45 pm at the latest. ✔

We demand to leave past 1845 at the latest. ✔

The colon is the nigh common option here, simply it is a thing of preference. Unless you're in the military, in which instance nosotros suggest sticking to protocol.

half dozen. Time Zones

For the contiguous states in the Us, we have four standard time zones:

• Pacific Time (PT) [UTC-08:00]
• Mountain Time (MT) [UTC-07:00]
• Central Time (CT) [UTC-06:00]
• Eastern Time (ET) [UTC-5:00]

We likewise have regional time zones for Alaska, Hawaii, and 5 US dependencies, plus daylight saving time in some places during the warmer months of the twelvemonth. And people in other countries use different time zones entirely!

Basically, we're saying geography can make fourth dimension complicated.

This is why we sometimes include a time zone when writing the fourth dimension. The initials UTC to a higher place, for example, stand for Coordinated Universal Time. We tin can utilise this to compare times in different places. So, "UTC-eight:00" means Pacific Time is 8 hours behind UTC. And since we know Pacific Time is viii hours backside UTC and Eastern Time is 5 hours behind UTC, we can work out that ET is 3 hours ahead of PT.

In other words, past including a fourth dimension zone when we write a fourth dimension, we can aid people in other places "interpret" information technology into their own time zone.

This is of import if you are writing for an international audience, since not everyone will exist in the same fourth dimension zone. You thus demand to include a set of time zone initials and so your reader tin summate the equivalent time where they are. For instance, if we were writing a time for an international audition, we might say:

The live broadcast will begin at ix:00 pm UTC.

Someone in Republic of bolivia could so look up the difference between UTC and BOT (Bolivia Fourth dimension) and know the broadcast begins at 5:00 pm where they are.

7. Avoiding Redundancy when Writing the Time

In writing, redundancy means using a give-and-take unnecessarily. We mentioned above, for instance, that you lot do not need to use AM or PM with 24-hour times because nosotros already know whether a time is the forenoon or afternoon/evening when using a 24-60 minutes clock.

Other cases of temporal back-up you may want to avoid include:

• Using "in the morning," "in the afternoon," etc., alongside AM/PM.
• Combining "in the morning," "in the afternoon," etc., with a 24-hour time.
• Using "midday," "noon," or "midnight" aslope a time in numbers.

We'll end this post with a few examples of redundancies then you know what to spotter out for. Check out the table beneath, good luck writing the time, and let u.s.a. know if you lot need any aid proofreading your work.

Redundancy	Correction
The event ends at 17:00 PM .	The effect ends at 17:00 . The result ends at v:00 PM .
Nosotros leave at 6AM in the morn .	We leave at 6AM . We leave at 6:00 in the morning .
He went to bed at 23:00 at night .	He went to bed at 23:00 . He went to bed at 11:00 at dark .
I'll see yous at twelve noon .	I'll see yous at twelve . I'll see y'all at noon . (Due north.B. 'Apex' is the better correction here, since 'twelve' past itself could be either midday or midnight.)

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Source: https://getproofed.com/writing-tips/7-top-tips-writing-time/

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