Categories: GeneralSpeakingVocabulary

Times of Day in English

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DAY

Day have two meanings.

First one is;

It is a period of 24 hours from twelve o’clock one night to twelve o’clock the next night.

Examples:

July has 31 days.
You can lose weight by walking 2 miles every day.

Second one is;

It is the time between sunrise and sunset.

Examples:

It is a sunny day.
Some animals sleep during day and hunt at night.

If we use “day” with first meaning, “day” has 24 hours and there are different times in a day.

Let see them;

MORNING

Morning means the beginning of day. ( from dawn to midday or from midnight to noon)

Examples:

It is a very beautiful morning.
I go to the school in the mornings.
Do you have any plans for this morning?
He will call us on Friday morning.
She couldn’t get to sleep until the morning.

DAWN

Dawn is the time when light from the sun begins to appear in the sky before sunrise.

Examples:

I usually wake up at dawn.
The mine workers left work at the break of dawn.
The dawn is breaking.
The weather generally gets cold toward dawn.
They should come before the dawn.

SUNRISE / SUNUP ( in U.S )

Sunrise is the time in the morning when the sun starts to rise in the sky.

Examples:

It is a beautiful sunrise on the farm.
We should start before sunrise.
If we get up early, we can see the sunrise.
The plane left the city at sunrise.
Get up at sunrise and sleep early.

MIDDAY / NOON

Midday or Noon means the middle of the day. ( Twelve o’clock at noon )

Examples:

It may snow around noon (midday).
I can wait you until midday (noon).
She will call you again at noon (midday).
We must finish this project before midday (noon).
By noon (midday), the boss have made many meetings.

AFTERNOON

Afternoon is the time which starts at twelve o’clock and ends when the sun goes down. ( from noon until evening )

Examples:

It can be a rainy afternoon. I hope I doesn’t rain in the afternoon.
The meeting was on Monday afternoon.
Many people like to have an afternoon nap.
I will fly to Italy tomorrow afternoon at 8 o’clock.
This project will take my all afternoon.

SUNSET

Sunset is the time in the evening when the sun disappears.

Examples:

We went to the top of the mountain to watch the sunset.
It is very nice to feel love at sunset.
I have never seen such a beautiful sunset before.
They went swimming before sunset.
There is a sunset and a sunrise every day.

DUSK / TWILIGHT

Dusk / Twilight is the time when there is a partial darkness between day and night. It means it is just before it becomes completely dark in the evening.

Examples:

When dusk falls, many animals suddenly disappear.
We have a lot of work from dawn untill dusk.
I sometimes come home from work at dusk.
The sky and the sun appear red at dask.
Dusk is falling over the sea.

EVENING

Evening is the part of the day between the end of the afternoon and night. ( from sunset to bedtime )

Examples:

In the evenings, I like to read a book.
What are you doing this evening?
Eating late in the evening is harmful to health.
It was a very nice evening. Thank you for everything.
My father was too sleepy to watch the evening news on TV.

NIGHT

Night is the time when there is an actual darkness after sunset and before sunrise. ( from sunset to sunrise )

Examples:

It was a windy night.
The rain fell during the night.
I didn’t take enough sleep last night.
Thank you for much such an enjoyable night.
It will get worse at night.

MIDNIGHT

Midnight means the middle of the night. ( Twelve o’clock at night )

Examples:

There was a terrible film on TV at midnight.
It is nearly midnight in Paris
By midnight, some strange sounds were heard.
This event happened after midnight.
They constantly discuss the same issue until after midnight.

DAYLIGHT

Daylight is the light of day.

Examples:

The flowers look very beautiful in daylight.
The thief robbed the bank in broad daylight.
We must solve the problem before daylight.
I like reading by daylight.
It is very nice to watch the sea in daylight.

Attention:

1) While telling the time,

A.M is used for the time between midnight and noon (00:01 – 12:00)

Examples:

The boss called me at 8 a.m.
He works from 9 am to 6 pm.

P.M is used for the time after noon ( not afternoon ) (12:01 – 24:00)

Examples:

They will arrive at 2.30 p.m.
The accident occured at 8 p.m.

2) We can also some other words used in day which are mealtime, bedtime and tonight.

Mealtime is the time at which a meal is eaten. Breakfast, lunchtime, dinner, teatime are mealtimes.

Bedtime is the time at which we usually go to bed.

Tonight is the evening of today.

3) Using “at“, “in” and “on” as prepositions with times of day.

“at” is used with “clock time, dawn, sunrise, midday (noon), dusk (twilight), sunset, night, midnight, mealtime(s), bedtime“

( we can say that “at” is used with exact (or specific ) times or particular points in a day)

Examples:

at 6 pm., at seven o’clock, at dawn, at sunrise, at noon, at dusk, at night ( refers to any night or all of the night) etc…

“in” is used with “morning, afternoon, evening, night ( as parts of the day )“

Examples:

in the evening, in the morning, in the afternoon, in the night ( refers to one particular night or a short time during the night ), etc…

“on” can be used with “morning, evening, afternoon” when we are talking about a specific “morning, evening, afternoon” which are used with days of the week or the months.

Examples: