A clock has a short hand and a long hand. The short hand shows the hour. The long hand shows the minutes.
When the long hand points straight up to 12, it is an o'clock time. Look at the short hand to see which hour. If it points to 3, the time is 3 o'clock, written 3:00.
There are 24 hours in a day, so most clocks go round twice: once in the morning and once in the afternoon and evening.
Worked example
The long hand points to 12 and the short hand points to 7. What time is it?
- Long hand on 12 means o'clock.
- The short hand shows the hour: 7.
Answer:7 o'clock (7:00)
Key words
- hour hand
- the short hand
- minute hand
- the long hand
- o'clock
- exactly on the hour
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Common Core-referenced: 1.MD.B.3