Editing 12-hour clock (section)

===Formal speech and times to the minute===
{{redirect|O'clock|the o'clock watch|O bag}}
{{Unreferenced section|date=October 2020}}
Minutes may be expressed as an exact number of minutes past the hour specifying the time of day (e.g., 6:32&nbsp;p.m. is "six&nbsp;thirty-two"). Additionally, when expressing the time using the "past (after)" or "to (before)" formula, it is conventional to choose the number of minutes below 30 (e.g., 6:32&nbsp;p.m. is conventionally "twenty-eight&nbsp;minutes to seven" rather than "thirty-two&nbsp;minutes past six").

In spoken English, full hours are often represented by the numbered hour followed by [[wikt:o'clock|''o'clock'']] (10:00 as ''ten o'clock'', 2:00 as ''two o'clock''). This may be followed by the "a.m." or "p.m." designator, though some phrases such as ''in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening,'' or ''at night'' more commonly follow analog-style terms such as ''o'clock, half past three,'' and ''quarter to four. O'clock'' itself may be omitted, telling a time as ''four a.m.'' or ''four p.m.'' Minutes ":01" to ":09" are usually pronounced as ''oh one'' to ''oh nine'' (''nought'' or ''zero'' can also be used instead of ''oh''). Minutes ":10" to ":59" are pronounced as their usual number-words. For instance, 6:02&nbsp;a.m. can be pronounced ''six&nbsp;oh&nbsp;two&nbsp;a.m.'' whereas 6:32&nbsp;a.m. could be told as ''six&nbsp;thirty-two&nbsp;a.m.''.