How to tell the time? Four in the morning...

[Tom]

Hi

Please see below:

1- It is three in the morning.
2- It is 3 in the morning.
3- It is 3:00 in the morning.
4- It is 3 o' clock in the morning.

Could you please shed some light on this?

Tom

[Jamie (K)]

My understanding is that you want to know if 1, 2, 3 or 4 is correct. The answer is yes.

[Tom]

Thank you, Jamie (K)!

Could you please also tell me which one is most commonly used? And which one is not generally used?

Tom

[Jamie (K)]

They're all commonly used. It's going to depend on the situation and the preference of the person or the publication. And for that, you need to check a style manual, such as the Associated Press style manual, the Chicago Manual of Style, the American Psychological Association manual, etc. There are a million of them.

[Yankee]

Hi Tom

If your sentences were spoken sentences, it would be better to use "It's" for all of them.

That would leave us with only two options:

"It's three in the morning."
- OR -
"It's three o'clock in the morning."

- AND one additional possibility:
"It's three a.m."

Amy
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English