What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'?

[Alan]

Too kind!
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[Yankee]

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That's what I thought. :lol:
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[Yankee]

[HamburgEnglish]

Did anyone really explain the differences here between

sometime
some time
and of course ..... sometimes

:-)

I got really confused ..

[Yankee]

[Yankee]

For those of you who aren't quite sure how to use 'sometime', here are some examples of the usage:

- We'll have to ring up their housing unit sometime today to arrange an interview.
- However, it is strongly rumoured that this may be sometime in the early part of 1992, when some amendments to the Building Regulations are to be introduced.
- Sometime in April.
- Expect the results via RCA sometime in the summer.
- You have to grow up sometime.
- Hopefully, sometime in the future, it will be possible to create community schools from which a new breed of professional will emerge.
- Try it sometime.
- May I have a conducted tour sometime?
- I'd be grateful if you would ring me sometime to let me have your views.
- Let's meet for a drink sometime.
- I'll see you sometime tomorrow.

Here are more examples (this time not the whole sentence):
- sometime in May
- sometime later this year
- sometime in 2011
- sometime soon
- sometime after the election
- sometime after 10 p.m.
- sometime in the middle of the century
- sometime late Saturday afternoon
- sometime next month

Can we count on the test sentence being corrected sometime soon? :wink:
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Alan]

We?
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[Yankee]

Yes, 'we'. In American English, that is known as the first person plural. On this side of the pond, it is not unusual for people to use the word 'we' when the reference is to more than one person and one of the people referred to is oneself. I'd have thought you were already acquainted with that usage, Alan.
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Alan]

[HamburgEnglish]

Stop Teasing Alan.

She is using the Royal "WE" Americans do it a lot, I think (smile)

[Alan]

Hi,

You're obviously new to the site and are unaware that the American schoolmistress delights in labouring a point - on her own of course. Hence my question.

Alan
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[Yankee]

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Now that you've got your personal insults out of the way, why not supply some kind of proof that the use of "some time" rather than "sometime" in the test sentence is correct?

The examples that I posted for the usage of 'sometime' were taken from both British and American sources. That is one of the reasons why I cannot understand Alan's resistance to changing the test sentence. Clearly, it is not only the writers of dictionaries who are aware of the meaning and usage of the word 'sometime'.
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Alan]

Hi,

[Yankee]

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Oh, right. :roll: That's the pot calling the kettle black. I also remember you complaining that I simply copied everything you wrote. Quite a pompous thing to claim, don't you think?

At any rate, it seems more fitting to say that without some sort of bombardment, it is nearly impossible to get some of the errors in the tests repaired. If posting repeatedly about a problem in a test is what it takes to get a test fixed, then that's what it takes.
Is that an ideal method? No, it isn't. However, it seems that sometimes that's the only method that works.

I've asked you this before:
Why not just fix it and be done with it?
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Mister Micawber]

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You can add me to the 'we's, folks. I would like to see all the tests proofread and corrected, too.
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