time to vs it's time to

[Charlie Bernstein]

A 'sentence' is written discourse whereas an 'utterance' is spoken.

'Utterance' is entirely natural on a forum discussing use of English.

I guess it is in British English. It would sound ornate in the US.

People do speak in sentences, though. My wife speaks in complete paragraphs. My dad did, too. I love that!

 

[jutfrank]

I guess it is in British English. It would sound ornate in the US.

It's a linguistics term. (In AmE, too.)

 

[igor1989]

"Time to [whatever]" is good at the beginning of a sentence, not so good later.

A few introductory words before it are okay:

- Hey, time to go!
- Oh, Father, time for work!
- What do you know, time for tea.

But I don't think it will do to plop it in the middle of a line.

If i say:
-- Hey, time you went!
Is it fine, isn't it?

ps "informally" is referred to "informal language"?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

If i say:
-- Hey, time you went!
It is fine, isn't it?

I don't know. It's understandable, though.

ps Is "informally" referring to "informal language"? Yes.

Keep listening to English speakers.

 

[igor1989]

Keep listening to English speakers.

Thank You, but I don't understand what You don't know.
I will keep listening to English speakers, in order to better understand and know it

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Thank You, but I don't understand what You don't know.
I will keep listening to English speakers, in order to better understand and know it

I don't know whether it's fine. It sounds odd to me, but it might sound natural to someone else.

 

[igor1989]

Ok, but It's understandable, isn't it? I think it is not wrong anyway...isn't it?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Okay, but it's understandable, isn't it? I think it is not wrong, anyway. Is it?

Yes, as I said, it's understandable and I don't have an opinion on whether it's good usage. I would probably say: "Hey! It's time for you to go!"

Piscean says that "Is it fine, isn't it?" is natural British Engilsh. In American English, we would say "It is fine, isn't it?"

 

[emsr2d2]

I believe Piscean was referring only to "Hey, time you went!" when he said it was natural BrE. He explained that the start of a tag question shouldn't be another question, but a statement, later in the same post.