Answer: Writing Measures of Time
sherron asks, “How should measures of time be written?”
I don’t know about you, but thanks to the internet, I’ve seen measures of time written in all sorts of ways over the years. Fortunately--and also thanks to the internet--the ways to write time are easily demystified.
We can write out measures of time in several different ways. But the first important decision to make is whether it’s appropriate to spell out the numbers as words or use numerals, a question which is covered in this excellent post by katiefoolery.
If you choose to write time in numerals, which generally seems to be the preferred method, the convention in written English is to separate hours and minutes (or hours, minutes, and seconds) with a colon.
The clock on his desk showed 10:59. Roy Mustang folded his hands and smirked, counting down the seconds until Edward Elric kicked in the door and started shouting.
The second most important decision to make is whether your fandom calls for the 24-hour clock (also called “military” or “continental” time), a system in which the time in a day is divided into 24 hours, from 0 (immediately after midnight) to 23 (the hour directly preceding midnight). In this system, a leading zero is usually added for numbers below 10 to prevent ambiguity. When said out loud, as in dialog, this leading zero is often spoken.
Hughes checked his watch. It was 0800, the hour when his darling little Elicia would be finishing her breakfast and getting ready for school.
“Call me back at oh-nine-thirty, and I’ll tell you all about the perfect cake Elicia baked last night,” Hughes exclaimed gleefully. Mustang rolled his eyes and hung up on him.
The way the 24-hour system is written and spoken varies among branches of the military and between military and civilian usage, so to make sure you’re getting it right, you should look up the particulars of time that pertain to your fandom.
If you’re not going to go with the 24-hour clock, you need to decide whether to go with AM/PM designations or use something else. AM (or a.m.) stands for ante meridiem, which means “before noon,” and PM (or p.m.) stands for post meridiem, which means “after noon.” Note that you can choose between capital letters without periods or lowercase letters with periods. In both cases, there should be a space between the number and the AM/a.m. or PM/p.m. Some style guides, like the Chicago Manual of Style and the MLA, prefer a.m./p.m. over AM/PM. But even if you’re not following a particular style, be consistent throughout your writing with whichever option you choose. Don’t switch between the capitals and the lowercase with periods.
This:
“What time did you say you last talked to him, ma’am?” Sam looked up from his notes. “3 PM yesterday?”
or
Dean downed his last shot and slapped some bills on the table. What kind of crappy dive bar had last call at 1 a.m.?
Not this:
“So you first felt the cold spot exactly at 11 yesterday. Was that 11 AM or 11 p.m.?” Sam asked. He smiled, trying to reassure the bank teller when she looked up at him uncertainly.
Since AM and PM already tell us whether the time we’re talking about is in the morning or later in the day, it’s redundant to say something like, “You talked to him at 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon, right?” Going with one, at 3 p.m. yesterday, or the other, at 3 yesterday afternoon, is better.
Another way to write out time is to use o’clock, which means “of, by, or according to the clock,” and which we use to specify the hours of the day. In this case, the preference seems to be that the o’clock be preceded by a number that’s spelled out, rather than a numeral.
Mrs. Hudson always served tea according to the vagaries of Holmes’s cases, but when no work was forthcoming, she could be relied upon to bring the tray up at four o’clock.
Time can also be designated with phrases like “in the morning,” “in the afternoon,” “tomorrow evening,” and “last night.”
It was either a really good sign or a really bad sign when you finally got to bed at five in the morning, Dean thought.
“What’s so important that I had to be here at eleven at night?” Edward grumbled. He would have added a bastard colonel, but he was too tired to properly appreciate the tic that would show just above Mustang’s left eyebrow when he said it.
Just remember: as mentioned above, if you’re using one of these phrases, you shouldn’t be using AM or PM.
Finally, let’s talk about noon and midnight. As explained in Garner’s Modern American Usage, “[N]oon is the moment from which other times are labeled AM or PM. To refer to noon as either 12 AM or 12 PM is not just logically and astronomically wrong, but ambiguous as well.” Providing contextual clues (such as characters having their lunch, which would generally suggest noon, or dancing at a club, which would suggest midnight) can help you point more clearly to the time being discussed without being “logically wrong.”
Handbooks and dictionaries alike also agree that it’s unnecessary to say “12 noon” and “12 midnight”; the 12 is considered superfluous, which means writers should stick with the clear and simple noon or midnight. “12 noon” and “12 midnight” are widely accepted idioms in casual speech, though, so if you have a character saying either of these in his or her dialog, it would accurately reflect the way many people talk. It’s up to you to decide whether a character would be more precise or more relaxed in his or her speech.
So to sum it all up in terms of general rules, if you’re writing in a military, medical, or some European fandoms, you might want to use the 24-hour system. Otherwise, you’ll probably be using AM/a.m. and PM/p.m., remembering to stay consistent with either the capitals or the lowercase with periods, and avoiding redundancy by leaving off phrases like “in the morning” or “at night.”
Sources:
24-hour clock, Wikipedia.com
AM, dictionary.com
AM and PM, Garner’s Modern American Usage by B. Garner
Daylight Saving and Time, Grammar Girl
O’clock, dictionary.com
I don’t know about you, but thanks to the internet, I’ve seen measures of time written in all sorts of ways over the years. Fortunately--and also thanks to the internet--the ways to write time are easily demystified.
We can write out measures of time in several different ways. But the first important decision to make is whether it’s appropriate to spell out the numbers as words or use numerals, a question which is covered in this excellent post by katiefoolery.
If you choose to write time in numerals, which generally seems to be the preferred method, the convention in written English is to separate hours and minutes (or hours, minutes, and seconds) with a colon.
The clock on his desk showed 10:59. Roy Mustang folded his hands and smirked, counting down the seconds until Edward Elric kicked in the door and started shouting.
The second most important decision to make is whether your fandom calls for the 24-hour clock (also called “military” or “continental” time), a system in which the time in a day is divided into 24 hours, from 0 (immediately after midnight) to 23 (the hour directly preceding midnight). In this system, a leading zero is usually added for numbers below 10 to prevent ambiguity. When said out loud, as in dialog, this leading zero is often spoken.
Hughes checked his watch. It was 0800, the hour when his darling little Elicia would be finishing her breakfast and getting ready for school.
“Call me back at oh-nine-thirty, and I’ll tell you all about the perfect cake Elicia baked last night,” Hughes exclaimed gleefully. Mustang rolled his eyes and hung up on him.
The way the 24-hour system is written and spoken varies among branches of the military and between military and civilian usage, so to make sure you’re getting it right, you should look up the particulars of time that pertain to your fandom.
If you’re not going to go with the 24-hour clock, you need to decide whether to go with AM/PM designations or use something else. AM (or a.m.) stands for ante meridiem, which means “before noon,” and PM (or p.m.) stands for post meridiem, which means “after noon.” Note that you can choose between capital letters without periods or lowercase letters with periods. In both cases, there should be a space between the number and the AM/a.m. or PM/p.m. Some style guides, like the Chicago Manual of Style and the MLA, prefer a.m./p.m. over AM/PM. But even if you’re not following a particular style, be consistent throughout your writing with whichever option you choose. Don’t switch between the capitals and the lowercase with periods.
This:
“What time did you say you last talked to him, ma’am?” Sam looked up from his notes. “3 PM yesterday?”
or
Dean downed his last shot and slapped some bills on the table. What kind of crappy dive bar had last call at 1 a.m.?
Not this:
“So you first felt the cold spot exactly at 11 yesterday. Was that 11 AM or 11 p.m.?” Sam asked. He smiled, trying to reassure the bank teller when she looked up at him uncertainly.
Since AM and PM already tell us whether the time we’re talking about is in the morning or later in the day, it’s redundant to say something like, “You talked to him at 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon, right?” Going with one, at 3 p.m. yesterday, or the other, at 3 yesterday afternoon, is better.
Another way to write out time is to use o’clock, which means “of, by, or according to the clock,” and which we use to specify the hours of the day. In this case, the preference seems to be that the o’clock be preceded by a number that’s spelled out, rather than a numeral.
Mrs. Hudson always served tea according to the vagaries of Holmes’s cases, but when no work was forthcoming, she could be relied upon to bring the tray up at four o’clock.
Time can also be designated with phrases like “in the morning,” “in the afternoon,” “tomorrow evening,” and “last night.”
It was either a really good sign or a really bad sign when you finally got to bed at five in the morning, Dean thought.
“What’s so important that I had to be here at eleven at night?” Edward grumbled. He would have added a bastard colonel, but he was too tired to properly appreciate the tic that would show just above Mustang’s left eyebrow when he said it.
Just remember: as mentioned above, if you’re using one of these phrases, you shouldn’t be using AM or PM.
Finally, let’s talk about noon and midnight. As explained in Garner’s Modern American Usage, “[N]oon is the moment from which other times are labeled AM or PM. To refer to noon as either 12 AM or 12 PM is not just logically and astronomically wrong, but ambiguous as well.” Providing contextual clues (such as characters having their lunch, which would generally suggest noon, or dancing at a club, which would suggest midnight) can help you point more clearly to the time being discussed without being “logically wrong.”
Handbooks and dictionaries alike also agree that it’s unnecessary to say “12 noon” and “12 midnight”; the 12 is considered superfluous, which means writers should stick with the clear and simple noon or midnight. “12 noon” and “12 midnight” are widely accepted idioms in casual speech, though, so if you have a character saying either of these in his or her dialog, it would accurately reflect the way many people talk. It’s up to you to decide whether a character would be more precise or more relaxed in his or her speech.
So to sum it all up in terms of general rules, if you’re writing in a military, medical, or some European fandoms, you might want to use the 24-hour system. Otherwise, you’ll probably be using AM/a.m. and PM/p.m., remembering to stay consistent with either the capitals or the lowercase with periods, and avoiding redundancy by leaving off phrases like “in the morning” or “at night.”
Sources:
24-hour clock, Wikipedia.com
AM, dictionary.com
AM and PM, Garner’s Modern American Usage by B. Garner
Daylight Saving and Time, Grammar Girl
O’clock, dictionary.com