Speaking about the seasonal time change in the autumn.. In Ukraine you'll often here they say the followinng sentence on the radio, "Tomorrow, don't forget to change the time on your clocks to one h

Sasha

Professional Teacher

Speaking about the seasonal time change in the autumn.. In Ukraine you'll often here they say the followinng sentence on the radio, "Tomorrow, don't forget to change the time on your clocks to one hour backwards!" How to correctly say this sentence in English? Some people say I shouldn't use to here, "...change the time on TO one hour backwards!" Some of them say that it wouldn't possible to say this sentence at all in English. Some people say "Tomorrow, don't forget to set a clock's hands back an hour" What is the most common and correct way to say this in English, what do YOU think? Thank you very much for your answers! UPD.: Sometimes I need to change/put/set/turn my clock's hands back an hour not because of the seasonal time change but because of, let's say, flying to the other country that has a different time zone. So, in that case would it sound 100% natural to say, "I need to set my clock's hands back an hour." as well as "I need to set my clock's hands back 3 hours?"

Jul 11, 2017 4:59 AM

Answers · 9

The way I most commonly hear this said is to say: "Don't forget to turn back your clocks." In some places the time change for daylight savings goes like this: In the fall, the clocks go back an hour, so we say "fall back" to remember to "turn the clocks back an hour." In the spring, the clocks "move ahead an hour" or "move up an hour" so we say "spring ahead." I hope that helps!

July 11, 2017

In America, we would typically say "Don't forget to set your clocks back one hour." We also say "spring forward, fall back" as a way to remind us that we sent our clocks forward one hour in the Spring, and back one hour in the Fall. "Spring forward" means jump forward, but it has a double meaning because spring also means the season Spring. "Fall back" means retreat, but it has a double meaning because fall also means the season Fall or Autumn.

July 11, 2017

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