LearnZone: Talking about time, day, and date in English

Hello Students,

How is your summer going so far? I hope you are doing well.

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Let's begin:

Talking about time, day, and date is an important skill, but it's an easy thing to flub (flub = make a mistake).

Today's Blue Level lesson covers this subject at a basic level. I'll throw in a few extra things here for you to learn:

When asking a question for time, day, or date, it should sound like this:

What time is it? Not: What time it is?
What day is today? (To answer....Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday...)
What's the date today? (To answer, provide the month and the number or just the number: July 17 or the seventeenth)

But...when "Do you know..." or "Can you tell me" comes first, the question looks like this:

- Do you know what time it is?
- Can you tell me what day today is?
- Do you know what today's date is?

When giving the answers for those questions...

It's 10, or It's ten o'clock. Remember, in the U.S. we use a 12-hour clock, not a 24-hour clock, so many people will also say 10 a.m., for morning, or 10 p.m. for evening.
Today is Friday, or It's Friday. The day is the day of the week.
Today is the seventeenth, or It's the seventeenth. The date is the number, 1-31. It's not necessary to say the month, unless it's the beginning of the month.

The words "this," "next," and "last," are also important to understand:

Use "this" when a time is close in the past or the future:

I had two cups of coffee this morning. (That was three hours ago.)
We're going to see a movie this evening. (That will be seven hours from now.)
This weekend Bob is going fishing. (That's tomorrow.)

Use "last" for a time in the past:

Where were you last Friday? (That's a week ago.)
Last month Gina went on vacation. (That was in June.)
Last year was a good year for LearnAmericanEnglishOnline.com. (That was in 2014.)

Use "next" for a time in the future, but not too close in the future:

Birtukan is coming for a visit next weekend. (Not this weekend, but eight days from now.)
Next month, school begins again. (That woud be in August.)
I'm planning on getting a new computer next year. (Next year is 2016.)

Here's a quick, short-answer quiz. Write your answers in your notebook.

Example: What day is tomorrow? It's Saturday.

1. What day is today? ___________________.

2. Where were you this morning? _____________.

3. What the date for this Monday?

4. What the date for next Saturday?

5. What time do you go usually go to sleep?

Some possible answers are below.

Have you been to the new chat room yet? I think this is working out well. So far there haven't been any problems.

That's all for now.

Have a nice day!

Your teacher,

Paul

PEACE!

Answers:

1. It's Friday.

2. I was at __________ (name of place: home, work, the store, my friend's house, etc.).

3. This Monday is the 20th.

4. Next Saturday will be the 25th. Tomorrow is the 18th.)

5. I usually go to sleep around 11.

LearnZone