Telling the time
GUYANA is firmly set to go metric by the year 2000. There are untold benefits in this system for consumers, importers, exporters and manufacturers. With respect to telling the time, the 24-hour clock is used. A day has only 24 hours. Therefore, it is incorrect to say or write 1200 hours. In the International 24-Hour Time System, the time in a particular day is indicated by two numbers, separated by a colon and followed by the abbreviation of hours, denoted as `h'. The first number indicates the whole number of hours that have elapsed since the start of the day and the second number indicates the additional minutes (note a.m. and p.m. are not used). A day starts at 00:00 h and ends at 24:00 h, that is zero hour and 24 hours. Example - two thirty in the afternoon is written as 14:30 h and pronounced as fourteen hours thirty, not fourteen thirty hours. When a number which consists of one digit occurs, a zero shall be placed before the digit. Example - Five minutes past three in the morning is written as 03:05 h and pronounced three hours five. Pronunciation - Eight O'clock in the morning is written as 08:00 h and pronounced eight hours. 01:05 h is pronounced one hour five. 20:45 h is pronounced 20 hours forty-five. 12:01 h is pronounced 12 hours one. 00:01 h is pronounced zero hour one. If a more precise form of time is required, for example, in sports, another column is added and the seconds are inserted. Example - Twenty minutes and 15 seconds after three in the afternoon is written as 15:20:15 h. (Guyana National Bureau of Standards, Sophia Exhibition Complex. Telephone number 56226, 59013, 77890. Telefax - 57455. Consumer hotline number is 77889.) 
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