Hour/ Day

Hour/ Day
Message from angrepa posted on 06-02-2018 at 14:45:03 (D | E | F)
Hello,
In exercise No.118052, the author accepted the answer "ten thirty" (10:30) but not twelve thirty.
I´d appreciate if you explain to me.
Thanks

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Edited by lucile83 on 06-02-2018 22:12

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Re: Hour/ Day from gerondif, posted on 06-02-2018 at 22:00:35 (D | E)
Hello,
twelve thirty should have been accepted.
I think the lesson doesn't describe the different ways to tell the time (British, timetable, army, USA) and in my opinion, it is a mistake to mix the proper time and what I call "timetables". They should be explained separately.

Normal way of telling the time:
a.m. from "midnight", the beginning of the new day, to 11.59 in the morning.
p.m. from twelve, the beginning of the "after noon".
"In the morning" will go from twelve to one to twelve.
"In the afternoon" will go from twelve to one to six.
"In the evening" will go from six to one to ten.
"at night" will go from ten at night to one to twelve at night.
For most Europeans, midnight is the end of today wheareas for the classical British people, midnight is already the beginning of the new day.

The normal classical system goes like this:
It is three o'clock.
It is five past three.
It is ten past three.
It is a quarter past three.
It is twenty past three.
It is twenty-five past three.
It is half past three.
It is twenty-five to four.
It is twenty to four.
It is a quarter to four.
It is ten to four.
It is five to four.
It is four (o'clock).

With a timetable, you start with the hour, then follow with the minutes from 01 to 59.
a.m. and p.m. are the same.
It is twelve a.m. means it is midnight.
It is twelve p.m. means it is noon.

It is three.
It is three o one.(pronounce like the o of the alphabet)
It is three o nine.
It is three ten.
It is three fifteen
It is three twenty.
It is three thirty
It is three forty-five
It is three fifty-nine.

So it is half past ten in the classical system becomes it is ten thirty if you speak like a train-schedule or a television programme.

It is half past twelve (in the afternoon) becomes it is twelve thirty (p.m.)

I suppose not enough right answers were considered correct when the test was created.

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Re: Hour/ Day from lucile83, posted on 06-02-2018 at 22:22:42 (D | E)
Hello,
I have added 'twelve thirty' in the options. The rest is all right.

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Re: Hour/ Day from traviskidd, posted on 07-02-2018 at 01:30:54 (D | E)
Good evening.
For me evening begins (and afternoon ends) at 6pm and lasts until the sky is (more or less) black, at which point night begins and lasts (for time-telling purposes) until midnight. In the summer, evening lasts 3 hours; in the winter, there is no evening.
I usually say the minute as o'clock, oh-one ... oh-nine, ten ... fifty-nine. I might say "five/ten/quarter after/to", but otherwise (except for o'clock) I simply say the hour followed by the minute. I never say "past", which sounds British to my ear.
When greeting someone at night, say "Good evening".
Good night.

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