Years, dates and time in English – Exercise 484
Loading...
To name a date we normally divide it into two parts:
1985 → 19 | 85 pronounced nineteen eighty-five
1623 → 16 | 23 pronounced sixteen twenty-three
If the left part of the date has values 00-09 (like 1803), we add the word "hundred".
We don't divide the dates from 2000 to 2009 as a rule. Have a look at the table:
| How we write | How we read | Alternative option |
|---|---|---|
| 999 | nine ninety-nine | nine hundred (and) ninety-nine |
| 1900 | nineteen hundred | |
| 1901 | nineteen hundred (and) one | nineteen oh-one oh means "0" |
| 1955 | nineteen fifty-five | |
| 2000 | two thousand | twenty hundred |
| 2001 | two thousand (and) one | twenty oh-one |
| 2010 | twenty ten |
There are several ways to write a date in English.
1) We can write the month as a word:
Pay attention
The names of the months always begin with a capital letter.
2) We can use digits only:
Pay attention
In the USA, the order is not the same as in Great Britain and Europe. It is month/date/year. For examples, 04/02/2018 stands for 2 April 2018.
When we name dates, we usually use ordinal numbers. They require the definite article the. We put the preposition of before the month. And as days are used with the preposition on, we put the preposition on before the date.
Examples of saying
When is your birthday? It’s on the third of March. (3 March).
When does the event take place? On the fifteenth of October, twenty twenty-one. (15 October 2020)
Посмотрите таблицу.
| Clock time | How to read | Hints |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 | nine o’clock | 1) we only say "clock" with whole hours (00 minutes) 2) we use sharp or on the dot for "exactly" at nine o'clock sharp, at nine o'clock on the dot |
| 9:05 | five past nine | past means after |
| 9:15 | quarter past nine | no article! |
| 9:30 | half past nine | no article! |
| 9:45 | quarter to ten | to means before |
| 9:55 | five to ten |
Pay attention
In English, there is a 12-hour system (not 24-hour like we have in Europe). Hours before noon are denoted as a.m. (Latin ante meridiem). Hours from noon till midnight are p.m. (post meridiem).
Example
8:40 a.m. = 08:40
2:10 p.m. = 14:10