Page 605 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

tense simplification in subordinate clauses 580
2 asking what time it is
Common ways of asking about time are:
What time is it? Have you got the time? (informal)
What's the time? Could you tell me the time? (more formal) What time do you make it? (OR What 00 you make the time?)
(BrE, meaning 'What time is it by your watch?')
3 the twenty-four hour clock
The twenty-four hour clock is used mainly in timetables, programmes and official announcements. In ordinary speech, people usually use the twelve- hour clock. Compare:
- Last check-in time is 20.15.
We have to check in by a qUllrter past eight in the evening.
- The next train from platform 5 is the 17.53 departure for Carlisle.
What time ooes the next train leave? '" Five fifty-three.
- The meeting will begin at fourteen hundred.
We're meeting at two o'clock.
If necessary, times can be distinguished by using in the moming!afternoon! evening. In a more formal style, we can use am (= Latin ante meridiem - 'before midday) and pm (= post meridiem - 'after midday').
09.00 =nine o'clock in the moming (OR nine am) 21.00 =nine o'clock in the evening (OR nine pm)
580 tense simplification in subordinate clauses
1 reasons for tense simplification
If the main verb of a sentence makes it clear what kind of time the speaker is talking about, it is not always necessary for the same time to be indicated again in subordinate clauses. Compare:
- This discovery means that we wUl spend less on food.
This discovery will mean that we spend less on food.
- It is unlikely that he will win.
I will pray that he wins.
Verbs in subordinate clauses are often simpler in form than verbs in main clauses - for example present instead of future, simple past instead of would + infinitive, simple past instead of past perfect.
You'll find Coca-Cola wherever you go. (NOT ••• WMreIIef';Y6ft will g6.) He would never do anything that went against his conscience.
(More natural than . . . that would go against his conscience.) I hadn't understood what she said.
(More natural than ... what she had saieL)
2 present instead of future: /'1/ write when / have time
Present tenses are often used instead of will + infinitive to refer to the future in subordinate clauses. This happens not only after conjunctions of time like when, until, after, before, as soon as, but in most other subordinate clauses -
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