English in Use/Time and Date

Here are some hints on how to express the date and time in English:

Date

 * The day of the month, the month, and the year:
 * Use on + ordinal of the day. On the 1st of June.
 * Use in + only and the month. In June.
 * Use about the + date (for approximate dates). About the 25th of December.
 * Day of the week: precedes on. Example: open on Sundays.
 * Ask the date: what's the date and what day is it (or today)?.
 * Answer a date asking: today's the + ordinal. Today's the 16th.
 * Century: in the + the ordinal of the century. Example: in the 20th century.
 * Decade:
 * Precedes in with the number in plural: in the 1990s.
 * Follows something for undetermined year of the decade, in other words: in 1980 something.
 * Era:
 * A.D. = Anno Domini, Latin for in the year of the Lord, in other words the Christian Era.
 * B.C. = Before Christ, in other words before Christian Era.

Time

 * Ask the time: What time is it? and What is the time?
 * Answer: It is and the part of the hour or the minutes, seconds: It is five o'clock.
 * Parts of the day:
 * morning: in the morning
 * afternoon: in the afternoon
 * evening: in the evening
 * night: at night
 * Halves:
 * AM
 * PM
 * Parts of the hour:
 * O'clock, for example: It is one o'clock (1:00).
 * Past and to:
 * It is 4 minutes past 5 (5:04) (or 4 minutes after 5 in USA).
 * It is 20 to 5 (4:40) (or 20 before 5 in USA).
 * Quarter:
 * A quarter past, for example: It is a quarter past 9 (9:15) (or a quarter after 9 in USA).
 * A quarter to, for example: It is a quarter to 12 (11:45) (or a quarter before 12 in USA).
 * Half past, for example: It is half past 9 (9:30).
 * Answer to when?:
 * Certain time: At, for example: At 5 p.m..
 * Proximity:
 * Nearly, about : It is about 10 o'clock.
 * Just after: It is just after 10 (a few minutes past 10).
 * Synonyms for times:
 * Noon, Midday: 12:00 in the 24 hour clock. It is 5 past noon (12:05).
 * Midnight: 0:00 in the 24 hour clock. Half past midnight (00:30).