Simplify the following text for a Grade 11 native English-speaking person.
Original: Decimal time of day had been introduced in France two years earlier , but was set aside at the same time the metric system was inaugurated , and did not follow the metric pattern of a base unit and prefixed units .
Simplified: Decimal time of day had been first used in France two years earlier , but was set aside at the same time the metric system was started , and did not follow the metric pattern of a base unit and prefixed units .