Questions tagged [time]
Topics related to time in written or spoken English
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Can We Use Participle Clauses as Supplements with Continuative and Non-continuative Perfects?
I've recently read a section in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language where Huddleston and Pullum talk about the focus of the perfect. They say that a sentence that uses the perfect 'have' can ...
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31
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Word for during recent frame of time?
The court's ruling is claimed to be (...) because it has only counted specific actions to set up some (...) simple structure of justice that only encompasses the last hour neglecting the history of ...
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2
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66
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Present Perfect with 'for' + time period
#1
I have known this for 2 days.
The above sentence means
"I got to know this 2 days ago" and/or "2 days have passed since I got known this".
Right? That looks and sounds clear ...
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1
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53
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At this time tomorrow, I am playing cricket [closed]
I know that:
At this time tomorrow, I will be playing cricket.
is used since the so-called future continuous is used to talk about a continuous activity at a specific time in the future. Even ...
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Is there a neat way to say the hour equivalent of 'today' or 'this week'?
I'm writing an online game, and I want to tell users what their highscore is since the beginning of the hour. But I don't want to say something wordy like:
Your highscore since the beginning of the ...
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31
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Does "within 10 years from 12-Aug-2023" refer to before or after that date? [duplicate]
Does "within 10 years from 12-Aug-2023" mean 10 year interval before 12-Aug-23 or otherwise after that date?
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30
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Time off request or time-off request? [duplicate]
Hello fellow grammar lovers!
I need some help.
I'm working on HR resources and have run into a bit of a conundrum about how to write about PTO.
I know that I "would like to take time off." ...
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17
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Are the following sentences possible to use (and also grammatically correct) and what meaning do they have? [duplicate]
I.
I thought he was swimming - I thought he swam for a while but found out it was a lie
I thought he is swimming - I thought he was swimming now, but he's not.
I thought he swam - I thought he once ...
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3
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55
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Adverb of time position in a sentence
I would like to know which of the following sentences is correct:
Ideally, we should leave tomorrow early
OR
Ideally, we should leave early tomorrow?
I know an adverb of time comes after the verb ...
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2
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100
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"centennial" vs. "centurial" - describing periods of 100 years
I'm interested in describing a record that spans multiple hundreds of years.
My writing partner suggests referring to this as "a centurial record of __", though intuition tells me that "...
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20
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"a to b" vs "a through b" [duplicate]
Is there a fundamental difference between 'a to b' and 'a through b'? In my specific case, 'a' and 'b' are dates.
Is one inclusive of 'b' and the other ... not inclusive? Ambiguous?
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Fill in your application up to 7 days prior to your arrival [duplicate]
I found this sentence in an government-provided online form to visit a country in the Caribbean:
"You can fill in your Online ED Card application up to 7 days prior to your arrival"
It ...
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The activity starts next week or starts from next week?
Which one is correct, the activity starts next week or starts from next week? And why?
Longman Dictionary has this entry for 'start' in this sense:
intransitive, transitive: to begin happening, or to ...
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What is the origin of "New Year"?
When I search the origin of "New Year", I find its history and origin in Roman Empire (and Julian calendar) as it is expected. However, the notion of "New Year" goes back to ...
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How to use adverbial phrases with season/year?
Time adverbial phrases seem very confusing. Google doesn’t show any past questions on this. I’d like to ask how I should write a sentence with a temporal phrase indicating season and year:
[subject] [...
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Articles in time structures, grammar or style?
"Are you asking about the implications of using the definite article in general (which is an English language/usage question) or about its use in this particular song?"
I had asked about &...
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Meaning of "up to 2 hours before <event>"? [closed]
While traveling in Europe I came across sentence that read opposite to what I believe was intended.
To be more specific, how should one interpret:
Customers must check in online up to 2 hours before ...
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History of "three quarters" as a period of time
With the current political crisis in the UK, I was reading about the history of short-lived administrations on Wikipedia, and came across the Earl of Bath, who tried and failed to set up a government ...
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Preposition with time
I am just confused about these rules. I've learned that we can use
I will be there by 9 p.m.
to mean that I promise to be there before 9 p.m.
Can we use the following two statements instead? If not ...
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101
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Notating timestamp in writing about music
I was wondering what is more commonly accepted in academic writing about music. I was using 1:00 to notate the minute and second mark something is happening in a track (for example, a new section ...
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Unusual words used to denote a specific length of time? [closed]
I'm looking for unusual/uncommon words that refer to a period of time. Something like fortnight:
(chiefly UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, dated in North America) A period of 2 weeks. (...
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3
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Meaning of "within" in this sentence:"The form must be filled out within 10 days before the flight"
I am a bit confused with the following statements (and I have met these often the last two years):
The form must be filled out within 10 days before the flight.
Fill out the Entry Form within 10 days ...
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What unit do you describe when talking about relative time?
In the same format a microwave puts things (as in, an amount of time from the present and not part of standard time), this should be able to be written in sentence, but I'm unsure which unit to use. ...
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48
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Alternate formulations for "four-month anniversary" (one-third of a year)
Looking for alternate formulations to four-month anniversary, a formulation that would highlight the fact that one third of a year has gone by since a certain date.
For six months there is the word ...
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"Exactly noon" parts of speech
What are the parts of speech in this phrase?
exactly noon
Any dictionary will say that "exactly" is an adverb, and that "noon" is a noun, but I haven't heard of adverbs modifying ...
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4
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I need explanation for a meaning of "was on borrowed time"
I'm studying English and I know a lot of words and wanted to read a book for my first time in English but there is sentence in the beginning of it that I can't really understand the meaning:
And now, ...
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Difference between "across the year" and "throughout the year"?
I have heard people saying these two phrases, do they have any difference from each other?
For example
I have accomplished a lot across the year.
and
I have accomplished a lot throughout the year.
...
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4
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850
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Word for both position and time
Is there an English word that describes a point in both space and time?
If we consider only space, it would be "position" or "location" and if we consider only time it would be &...
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Is there a right way to interpret a phrase that involves time ex: 'in the last 1 week' or is it always subjective?
If today is 8th April 2022, what is the right interpretation of the term 'in the last 1 week'?
Is it ?
28th March to 3rd April
1st April to 7th April
27th March to 2nd April
Is there a framework of ...
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361
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Does "by year X" include year X?
A politician promises to, say, plant 1,000 trees "by 2022". Will one be able to tell if the promise was fulfilled on January 1, 2022 or on January 1, 2023?
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When should the program greet with good evening and good night? [duplicate]
I want to create a program that will greet users with good morning, good afternoon, good evening and good night. However, I am confused as to when the time should be used to greet with good evening ...
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1
answer
51
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"An interview at the suggested [insert word here]" – time? moment? occasion? opportunity? juncture?
I am looking for a word that means, a particular date and time. I need it to complete the following phrase:
An interview at the suggested ____
. Time is the most obvious, but it lacks the date ...
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21
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Days from date count [duplicate]
If someone says,
You have four days from February 4th, 2022 to complete this job
what is the due date to complete the job? is it 7th February or 8th February?
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118
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What is the proper way to say 01:32? [closed]
During Apollo 11 launch the narrator said "thirty two minutes past the hour". I always thought it meant 01:32. But here another person claims that phrase could refer to 32 minutes past any ...
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How to avoid poor flow in these sentences with "divorced his wife" and "divorced his ex-wife"?
Consider the sentence
He had been living in the city ever since he divorced his ex-wife.
and the alternative
He had been living in the city ever since he divorced his wife.
Both have imperfect ...
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1
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407
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"under the ten minutes" vs "under ten minutes"
By the end of Chapter 5 of The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle, there is a usage that I have never seen before: "under the ten minutes".
The context:
Until we got three-...
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Idiom or phrase for expressing one's skill/talent has not decayed
I am wondering what standard phrase or idiom expresses that one's skill or talent in a particular area has not decayed through the passage of time.
I believe a related idiom is, "[the person] has ...
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57
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How to refer to an event happening without referring to when it's happening? [duplicate]
I can say that an event will happen, or has happened, or is happening. But is there a way to say that an event exists in the time line without referring to WHEN it is placed?
For example, I can say I ...
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Over the next 2 weeks [closed]
I need to clarify the time mentioned in this sentence:
Can you please provide me a few dates and times that will suit you over the next 2-3 weeks?
So the dates mentioned should be any day from now ...
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1
answer
63
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How to make these sentences passive: 'People believe that Jenkins is the culprit.' and 'People believed that Jenkins was the culprit.' [closed]
How to make these sentences passive? 'People believe that Jenkins was the culprit.' and 'People believed that Jenkins was the culprit.'
I know it is
Jenkins is believed to have been the culprit.
...
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Using more than one past perfect tense with time clauses and "last time I..."
I know I can express things in many different ways, and that maybe I could find alternative ways to form the sentences below, but I'm just trying to understand the use of the past perfect in certain ...
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Is "during the period of..." acceptable?
I am not a native speaker and am looking for an accurate wording:
During the period of 09/10/2021 - 09/20/2021, our department has run an assessment test of graduate students.
I am concerned if the &...
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Is there an equivalent of “nychthemeron” that specifically starts at midnight?
That is, is there a word for the 24-hour period starting at midnight?
I know that technically a day means either 24 hours
or the period of time between sunrise and sunset, and
that day and ...
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31
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When talking about a historical civilization/event that continues today, how do you write the "end" dates? [duplicate]
Let's say I'm talking about the duration of Hinduism - I've taken the "beginning" date as the 19th century BC, so I've currently written:
(19th century BC - )
I don't know if there is a ...
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1
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64
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Does "first day/time-slot" refer to Monday and not Friday?
I've had my professor's text, as follows:
Select which you would like to come to: the first (= Class A) or second (= Class B) day/time-slot available on your weekly schedule.
Here is the question. I ...
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1
answer
323
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How does the word "today" make sense?
So I'm currently reading a book from the 1930s (Lost Horizon), where some language conventions are quite different than the language conventions I am used to today.
One thing piqued my interest: The ...
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"a certain event will occur by a" particular "period of time" means that said event can occur at any instant of time within said "period of time" [duplicate]
In English, if a person states, "a certain event will occur by a" particular "period of time" then does that mean that said event will occur any time within said "period of ...
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2
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255
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Using the word "minutes" when saying the time
I have a question regarding the word "minutes" used in the context of telling someone what time it is. Actually, I think there may be regional differences, and, therefore, I have not one but ...
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Timing of adverb after conditional
The sentence in question:
Should you decide to decline the offer, the contract is terminated effective immediately.
My question is about the timing of the word immediately. Would immediately refer to ...
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28
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place-place-time
Could you please tell me which one of the following sentences is correct grammatically?
I am giving a talk at the International Congress on Mathematical Physics in Berlin, Germany, in July 2021.
I ...
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