Questions tagged [time]
Topics related to time in written or spoken English
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What is the official abbreviation of "week"?
I have tried searching in a number of places but could not find a reliable article/documentation that lists the official abbreviation of "week".
There were however a couple of articles that said that ...
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What do you call people who are obsessed with time? [closed]
When you never know what time it is, and your family thinks it's polite to show up early.
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Is there any relationship between time and tense?
The grammatical term 'tense' is defined in Oxford as follows:
A set of forms taken by a verb to indicate the time (and sometimes also the continuance or completeness) of the action in relation to the ...
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Can one say "at six months' term" ?
This is in discussing stock market analyses--"we estimate the fair market value will be XXX at six months' term".
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Usage of the word later [closed]
Mohan started writing a story on 3oth May and finishes it 2 days later. When did he finish it?
Is the answer 1st June or 2nd June? Please explain. Thanks
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"Planning for next year" vs. "planning for the next year"
I would like to start planning for next year.
In the above sentence, there is no definite article before the words next year. Should it be present, as in the following sentence which sounds far less ...
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Correct use of "before" & "from"?
I came across this sentence in a newspaper:
Five minutes from the end I didn't think we could win this game.We deserved to win this
championship.
I am confused as to why he uses from the end. I ...
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What is a word that means "a span of six months"?
Is there a word that means "a span of six months"? That is, I want to connote a stretch of time that lasts half a year, not an event that happens every six months.
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How did English retain its non-Christian names of the week?
It amazes me that despite centuries of religion dominating almost every aspect of life in Britain or at the very least exerting a great deal of influence on the public and private sphere, the English ...
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Describing event with “greatest” date value
I'm struggling with a way to describe one of a series of datetime values that has the greatest value.
My first thought would be to call it the "latest", but the suggests that the event is in the past,...
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Using "after" before " from when"
So, as silly as this may sound, I'm going through a phase where basically the most simple things that I once was able to say without even thinking about them, seem to have started to get foggier and ...
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What would one call the difference between lap times?
Let's say I ran a 200m. And my lap times would be: 14.50 seconds on the first 100m and 13.70 seconds in the last 100m.
What would one call the difference between those two lap times (0.80 seconds).
...
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Omitting preposition in clock time expressions
Googling for a time expression with and without ‘at’:
“Leaves at 8am” yields ~ 24k hits
“Leaves 8am” yields ~ 4k
Is omitting the ‘at’ preposition here a less formal register, just an alternative ...
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Omitting "when" or "where" in a time expression [closed]
During study, I was reading about the definition of "Age" at the "Cambridge Dictionary".
Age is:
the period of time someone has been alive or something has existed:
Can I put "when" or "where" ...
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Why are the notes or protocol of a meeting referred to as its 'minutes'?
A minute is 60 seconds. Something 'minute' is small, minor, perhaps short.
Now, what about the minutes of a meeting or a session? As in, its written protocol? Are they called that because:
The ...
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Time Travel Grammar
I recently watched a scene from the tv sitcom The Big Bang Theory with Sheldon explaining English grammar about time travel (related with the use of have, has, had...), is his explanation even ...
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Common ways to tell the time
I'm a non-native speaker. In school, I was taught that the proper way of telling times in English is X o' clock.
In NAE, would it be common to omit o' clock and just say something like:
It's ...
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Can you say "within 90 days after"?
I understand that you can say, "within 30 days of receiving your application", but I am seeing more and more "within 30 days after your application is received". Is the latter grammatical?
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Meaning of "There is not a direct relationship between verb forms and time."
In Practical English Usage, the author Michael Swan says:
There is not a direct relationship between verb forms and time. For example, a past verb like went is not only used to talk about past ...
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“____ days in advance” exact meaning
What is the deadline for something due “[#] days/weeks/etc. in advance”?
For example, if something is required “seven days in advance” would providing it on Friday the week before be correct or too ...
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Are there any Germanic cognates to "lithe"?
When winter first begins to bite
and stones crack in the frosty night,
when pools are black and trees are bare,
’tis evil in the Wild to fare.
In this time of ...
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Are the phrases "in times like these" and "in times like this" both correct?
They both seem to be widely used. There is the variant "at a time like this", which is clearly correct, but I'm curious about the mismatched "times like this".
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The difference between "on time" and "in time" [closed]
I'm so confused while using "on time" and "in time" in sentences.
I wanted to know if I have understood the meanings correctly.
Does "on time" means exactly at the specific time that was planned?
And ...
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Is there a term for the "due-ness" of something?
I have something that can be one of the three states: current, due, and overdue.
Is there a specific term that describes the set comprised of those states, one that evokes the nature of the states? ...
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Journal “TIME” in this week [closed]
I have a simple question of the title in the cover page for TIME this week. It is described that “we are not frayed at the edges - we are ripped at the damn seams”. This is one of the sentence of ...
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Is “even when” a conjunction?
Does even when grammatically work the same as even though and even if work? Or is it more of a time expression?
Following the rules is essential, even when it’s difficult.
Following the rules is ...
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Were the verb forms / structures named after their most typical / common use?
A verb form like "went" is called a "past tense". However, it is not only used to talk about past events (e.g. We went to Morocco last January), but also about unreal or uncertain present or future ...
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"In the next two weeks" vs. "next two weeks"
Which one of the following is correct if the writer intends to say a week after next week?
My friend and I decided to go to the beach in the next two weeks.
My friend and I decided to go to ...
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Nuance in meaning when using "into" to define a duration
English non-native speaker here.
Let's say I use "into" to define a specific moment/duration in time of something.
So I say:
He drank well into his forties.
Or:
I expect this to be completed ...
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AM/PM vs a.m./p.m. vs am/pm
I used to think PM/AM was correct, but at some point, I switched to using p.m./a.m. for reasons I can't recall. I know that in practical, casual writing, people tend to use whatever form is most ...
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Referring to time of day in prose
About ten after 10 PM, he answered the door again.
Someone said that having one number spelled and the other as digits was strange. On the other hand, both digits doesn't seem right in a written-...
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The Speed Of Time - Does That Phrase Make Sense [closed]
We often say that "time seems to be going very fast" or "it feels like the time just sped up". When you think about it, do these phrases make any sense? Isn't our definition of speed "how far some ...
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What phrase is "o'clock" contracting?
I have been intrigued by the word o'clock since I learned English. Although there is an equivalent to this word in my native language (Spanish en punto meaning on point or on the dot) I want to know ...
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How to indicate that something happened at the same time as a prolonged event (a war) but not as part of that event
The U.S.S Pueblo is a US ship that was captured by DPRK forces in 1968, at the same time that the Vietnam war was going on. I wrote a comment about the time of the event on a question on Skeptics.SE ...
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"a half century" vs. "half a century" [duplicate]
What is the difference between "a half century" and "half a century"? Is there a specific time when each phrase should be used, or is it simply a matter of preference?
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Capitalization of "time"
Another question from the world of Charles Dickens.... In Great Expectations, the police sergeant says the following to Mr. Pumblechook:
"Would you give me the Time!"
I was surprised at this ...
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new england way to tell the time?
Dear EnglishStackExchange users,
I have been reading a book written by S. King, "Under the Doom."
The author is from the New England--if I am not mistaken--and the story in the book unfolds in the ...
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Is there a word for “near in time” (both past & future) that doesn’t also imply geographical proximity?
I’m currently writing a program that finds the “nearest sensible job”, in terms of time. The only problem is that that phrase could also mean that the program is finding the nearest geographical job.
...
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What's the Best English word for 6 months in this group: daily, weekly, quarterly, 6 months, yearly? [duplicate]
While writing programs, I need to create a drop down for setting periods, like daily, weekly, monthly, etc. Using one year as a time frame. This question is driven by lack of a better word. I've had ...
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3 weeks later vs after 3 weeks
I'm little bit confused of using later and after to mention a specific time in the future. For example, I wanted to say:
I'll be on a vacation for 3 days after precisely 21 days.
Can I also say that:...
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Temporal adjective for "As old as time itself"?
Is there a single-word adjective describing something that has lasted forever? I'd be quite surprised if there wasn't. I can't ponder anything at the moment.
I'd imagine it's use to be something ...
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How to say one minute past midnight in military time?
I first would like to say that I did read How should one say times aloud in 24-hour notation? but my question isn't answered there.
How do you say 0001 in military time?
oh one hours?
oh oh one ...
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The ambiguous "until"
As a non-native English speaker, It seems to me that the word "until" is quite ambiguous. It's been told that when it's used with a date it includes the date. (Does "until [date]" mean "...
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When does it become "long enough" to use the term "always"? [closed]
This BBC page caught my eye: "Physicists had always believed". Except they hadn't. Its a very recent belief, probably under 30 - 40 years old.
We often use "always" without thinking, to make a point ...
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Can "to be able to" be used in perfect infinitive?
I understand the use of perfect infinitive. The thing is that I find it awful to use "to be able to" referring to something that happened in the past.
Let me elaborate with an example I just read: I ...
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Any specific word to describe a date, contains only year, month and day, but not time?
I want a word to describe the name of a date, that is a date only contains year, month and day, like "2017-7-1", but not contains time "12:05".
The word "date" is not specific, because it can also ...
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Meaning of "within 30 days of [a certain date in the future]" in context?
I am required to submit a certain form "within 30 days of [a certain date in the future]". I suspect that the form's author actually meant to say something like "at least 30 days before [a certain ...
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What's the difference between "most of the time" and usually? Also what's the register of those two?
I was wondering about the register of each of those phrases and the difference between them. I've been told that when the expression is broken down in tiny pieces, has an informal register.
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Why do we say: "what time is it?"
Why do we say
What time is it?
if time is uncountable? Why don't we say
What hour is it?
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Which sentence is correct for passing of time? [closed]
Which sentence is correct for passing of time? "Whatever the time passes", "Whatever the time it passes over" or "Whatever the time goes on".
I need it for my scientific paper. My complete sentence is:...
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