Guest  +  80334 Fri, 11 Mar 05 05:40 AM Teachers, if it is five minutes past eleven, would you say it is "eleven oh five" or "eleven O five" ? If it is seven minutes past eleven, what would you day? would you say the exact minutes? "eleven oh seven"? I have never seen an example of a time at which the minute is not at five, ten, fifteen,.... and I have never heard people tell a time of this kind. I would appreciate if you tell me what you would do with this example. Guest

	CalifJim  +  80347 Fri, 11 Mar 05 07:26 AM These are all possibilities. The first group is exact to the minute; the second group is for approximate times. eleven, eleven oh one, eleven oh two, eleven oh three, eleven oh four, eleven oh five, eleven oh six, ... eleven oh nine, eleven ten, eleven eleven, eleven twelve, ... (not "eleven zero one", etc.) eleven, a little after eleven, about five after eleven, about eleven, just after eleven, around eleven CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,385 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

	CalifJim  +  80944 Sun, 13 Mar 05 09:10 PM I suppose you don't really have to say "oh", but it sounds more normal to me that way! CalifJim

	nona the brit  +  81259 Mon, 14 Mar 05 11:09 PM I would say five past eleven! Or 20 past eleven if 'rounding up' from 18minutes past eleven. The o is maybe a hangover from o'clock, but we only use the o'clock when it is precisely on the hour. One o'clock. five past one. Quarter past one or one fifteen. twenty five past one half one (people often drop the 'past' for the half hour) or one thirty quarter to two or one forty five ten to two five to two two o'clock. Most people do not use the precise minutes, they round up or down to the nearest ten, unless you are running a scientific experiment or something! The use of numbers seems to be saved for the 15, 30 and 45 minutes situations, one ten sounds odd to me. In Britain you will find that older people (over 60s?) often use the phrase 'five-and-twenty' instead of twenty five when they are telling the time. ie. five and twenty to two. My mum does and I once asked her why, as she doesn't use it any other time, and she didn't know why, it was just the way people used to say it and a lot of older people continue to do so. nona the brit Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004 England Veteran Member 11,713 The name says it all.

	Klavier  +  81913 Thu, 17 Mar 05 03:53 PM I read your post Nona, and I think there are differences between BrE and AmE. I'm a little puzzled when it comes to formal and informal way of telling the time. I was taught that five past one was the formal way, and one five the informal way. My question is: what are the formal and informal expressions in BrE and AmE counting :00 :05 :10 etc? An attempt: Formal BrE Two o'clock. Five past two. Ten past two. A quarter past two. Twenty past two. Twenty five past two. Half past two. Twenty five to two. Twenty to two. A quarter to two. Ten to two. Five to two. Informal BrE Two. Five past two. Five past two - Quarter past two. ?? Quarter past two - Two Fifteen. Quarter past two. ?? Half two - Two thirty. ?? Half two - Two thirty. Half two - Two thirty. ?? Quarter to two. Quarter to two - Two forty five. Ten to two. Five to two. Klavier

	hbae787  +  81930 Thu, 17 Mar 05 06:02 PM Depends on the type of watch you are looking at. If it's electronic then the hour and minute digits are there. Just read the exact numbers out loud. If it's a dial watch, then most peole would round off the time. Eleven-o-seven becomes eleven-o-five, seven-twenty-one becomes seven-twenty and so on. hbae787 Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004 Houston Junior Member 87

	nona the brit  +  81941 Thu, 17 Mar 05 07:38 PM I've honestly never heard anyone say 'hour o minutes' except in very formal situations ie. military/scientific/spies needing to synchronise watches/very dorky teenagers. nona the brit