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Q&A How to write time duration correctly

I couldn't find explicit guidance in either the Chicago Manual of Style or the Microsoft Style Guide, but what I have observed (and would write naturally) is with commas: The maximum time perio...

posted 6y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T02:33:17Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/29189
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T02:33:17Z (over 4 years ago)
I couldn't find explicit guidance in either the Chicago Manual of Style or the Microsoft Style Guide, but what I have observed (and would write naturally) is with commas:

> The maximum time period allowed is 365 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds.

You might be tempted to write the time in ISO notation (23:59:59), but this is usually used to indicate a _point in time_, not a _duration_.

You could also cast it as a limit instead of a duration:

> The time period must be less than 366 days.

I sometimes find that the solution to a messy precision problem is to attack it from the other end -- what's the first value you _can't_ use?

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-07-12T15:32:02Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 1