The clock is nearing 4

[tufguy]

Hi,

You blocked my previous thread but didn't answer my question. Could you please provide me with the correct structure?

"The clock is nearing 4 or 6 etc". Is it a correct sentence to say if we have to indicate that it is going to be 4 or 6 on the clock after a few minutes?

 

[Rover_KE]

"The clock is nearing 4" is not natural.

Say "It's nearly four o'clock".

 

[emsr2d2]

"The clock is nearing 4 or 6 etc".

Yet again, you've given us a sentence no one would ever say. Do you understand that when you use quotation marks at the beginning and end of a string of words that it means you're suggesting saying all the words between the quotation marks in a single utterance?

 

[tufguy]

Yet again, you've given us a sentence no one would ever say. Do you understand that when you use quotation marks at the beginning and end of a string of words that it means you're suggesting saying all the words between the quotation marks in a single utterance?

I told you I probably heard someone say this. This is the reason I asked you this but I wasn't sure about what I had heard.

 

[emsr2d2]

I told you I probably heard someone say this. This is the reason I asked you this but I wasn't sure about what I had heard.

You're still not getting the message. Why would someone say the exact words "The clock is nearing 4 or 6 etc"? Even if "The clock is nearing" was natural (which we keep telling you it isn't), they would stop after the first number. The time can't be getting close to 4 or 6. It's one or the other, and they certainly wouldn't say "et cetera" as part of the sentence. I understand that you weren't sure exactly what you heard, but you must see that you definitely didn't hear the words "The clock is nearing four or six, et cetera". I'm becoming convinced that you do not know how to use quotation marks correctly in direct speech.

 

[Skrej]

Some other natural versions:

It's almost four (o'clock).
It's just about four (o'clock).
It's coming up four (o'clock).
It's close to four (o'clock).
It's not quite four (o'clock).

 

[tufguy]

You're still not getting the message. Why would someone say the exact words "The clock is nearing 4 or 6 etc"? Even if "The clock is nearing" was natural (which we keep telling you it isn't), they would stop after the first number. The time can't be getting close to 4 or 6. It's one or the other, and they certainly wouldn't say "et cetera" as part of the sentence. I understand that you weren't sure exactly what you heard, but you must see that you definitely didn't hear the words "The clock is nearing four or six, et cetera". I'm becoming convinced that you do not know how to use quotation marks correctly in direct speech.

I wrote "The clock is nearing 4 or 6" just to give you an example. I thought if I wrote "The clock is nearing 4" then you would ask me why particularly 4 so that was just an example.

 

[emsr2d2]

I wrote "The clock is nearing 4 or 6" just to give you an example. I thought if I wrote "The clock is nearing 4" then you would ask me why particularly 4 so that was just an example.

You should have written something along the lines of:

Is it correct if someone says "The clock is nearing 4" or "The clock is nearing 6" or something similar?