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British Summer Time, or Daylight Saving Time, ends this weekend. Why do we say the clocks go back? As we are referring to clocks in general shouldn't it just be "clocks go back"?

davidlol
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    Because all the clocks go back. It is collective. Another example: "People go the beach in summer", vs "The people voted to leave EU." – Weather Vane Oct 28 '22 at 07:47
  • I think clocks go back or clocks are set back work as well without the article. – Jack O'Flaherty Oct 28 '22 at 09:53
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    Here, using 'the' or the (null, Ø2, I think) article is largely a style choice. Though my choices would be identical to that in the piece below: 'When do the clocks go back in autumn 2022? ... ... ... Clocks go forward by one hour at 1am on the last Sunday in March to mark the beginning of BST....' [Ellie Kemp; Manchester Evening News; Oct 2022] – Edwin Ashworth Oct 28 '22 at 11:05
  • Why do we use the definite article in the phrase the wrong number? Is there only one? – John Lawler Oct 28 '22 at 15:55
  • I think it just sounds more natural to add "the"; without it, "clocks" sounds indefinite - "clocks go back" could refer to some clocks. "The" also emphasises it's a particular event you need to pay attention to, rather than just a case of some clocks running slowly. As mentioned, neither is wrong, but you can speculate why psychologically one version sounds better. – Stuart F Oct 28 '22 at 18:30
  • I don't think we commonly say the clocks go back in American English. – Tinfoil Hat Oct 28 '22 at 21:52
  • It's much the same reason as in "Apart from man, the lion is the primary predator in Africa." I'm sure there is more than one lion on the continent. In fact, searching for that idea here I've found a duplicate question which answers this. – Andrew Leach Oct 29 '22 at 14:47

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