Do you know how to tell time in English? Is it two in the morning or the afternoon? If we have to distinguish between each of the 12-hour periods into which we divide the day, am and pm in English it is very useful to distinguish the hours of the morning from those of the afternoon and night. It’s 4 pm! Time to study English!
What is the meaning and full form of AM?
The term AM is an abbreviation of “Ante Meridiem”, which translates as ” before noon “. It is a Latin phrase. These abbreviations are used to denote each of the twelve-hour segments that make up a day, together with those of PM. Considering this 12-hour arrangement, the AM indicator corresponds to a time window that begins at midnight (00:00) and ends at 11:59 in the morning or noon. The PM indication, on the other hand, runs from noon (12:00) till 11:59 at night. AM and PM indications are often used on digital clocks and alarm clocks, which display the time in digits, as the name suggests. As a result, you can determine if the indicated time is before or after noon.
What is the meaning and full form of PM?
The term PM is an abbreviation of the Latin phrase “Post Meridiem”, which translates as “afternoon”. Two bands of twelve hours per day are created by dividing the day’s 24 hours by noon. In this manner, the hours preceding it are denoted by the acronym AM, while the hours following it are denoted by the opposing acronym, PM.
Let’s understand with an example-
| Analog Time | Digital Time (AM/PM) |
|---|---|
| 22:15 | 10:15 p.m. |
| 17:30 | 5:30 p.m. |
| 23:59 | 11:59 p.m. |
| 10:45 | 10:45 a.m. |
| 16:00 | 4:00 p.m. |
| 12:24 | 12:24 p.m. |
| 05:16 | 5:16 a.m. |
| 03:32 | 3:32 a.m. |
| 13:51 | 1:51 p.m. |
| 08:45 | 8:45 a.m. |
Some Facts On AM/PM:-
- Is it necessary to capitalise on AM and PM? It is customary to write these acronyms in lowercase and to pay attention to the space between the elements, that is, am and pm.
- Up until the 19th century, the only traditional system in use was the 12-hour system. The 24-hour clock was proposed by Canadian engineer and inventor Sandford Fleming, who wanted to develop a device that could measure time anywhere in the world by using the Greenwich meridian as a reference.
- Since the hours in this system are read from 00:00 to 24:00, these acronyms are not used in the 24-hour time system, also referred to as the military time system.
- The fact that 12:17 PM alludes to midday while we usually connect this acronym with night can be perplexing. One easy method to remember it is to imagine that the date changes at 12 a.m., regardless of the time of day, since it marks the start of a new day.