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 Tue Apr 22, 2008 17:42 pm What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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That's what I thought. 
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| Tue Apr 22, 2008 20:12 pm What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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| lost_soul wrote: | | Yankee wrote: | What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'?
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Hi, Amy
Maybe my idea is crazy and beside the point, but nevertheless here it is: what if the person who said that phrase was reminiscing, and by saying "some time" he meant "quite a time" or "a great time"
Just wondering if it would work?  
It must have been some time in 1947, I'm sure you had fun back then
Thanks ! |
Hi Alex
Sorry I missed your post initially.
Yes, you're right. That would be a possible way to use 'some'. I'm not sure whether this usage exists in BE, however, and it definitely cannot be interpreted as the intended usage in the test sentence. It doesn't fit the context.
The word 'some' can be used with a noun to indicate that the thing you are referring to is remarkable in its degree, intensity or quality. The sense could be either positive or negative:
- That must have been some concert! I wish I could have gone.
- She is some skater! Very few can do what she does, but she makes it all look so easy!
- That was some blizzard we had last week!
- That was some assignment! I thought I'd never finish the darn thing.
- That was some pile-up on the interstate yesterday afternoon! There must have been a hundred cars involved.
The word 'some' and the noun are sometimes fronted (usually with a negative or sarcastic meaning):
- Some friend he turned out to be! What a back-stabber!
- Some explanation that was! I'm even more confused than I was before.
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| Thu Apr 24, 2008 15:07 pm What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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Did anyone really explain the differences here between
sometime
some time
and of course ..... sometimes
I got really confused .. |
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HamburgEnglish
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| Fri Apr 25, 2008 8:37 am What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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| HamburgEnglish wrote: | | I got really confused .. |
Apparently so did Alan.
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| Sun Apr 27, 2008 14:41 pm What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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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? 
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| Sun Apr 27, 2008 17:33 pm What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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We?
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| Sun Apr 27, 2008 18:24 pm What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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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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| Sun Apr 27, 2008 18:31 pm What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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| Quote: | | when the reference is to more than one person and one of the people referred to is oneself. |
So who is the other person?
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| Sun Apr 27, 2008 18:33 pm What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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Stop Teasing Alan.
She is using the Royal "WE" Americans do it a lot, I think (smile) |
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| Sun Apr 27, 2008 18:40 pm What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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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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| Sun Apr 27, 2008 18:51 pm What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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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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| Sun Apr 27, 2008 19:05 pm What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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Hi,
That's rich, that is! You have bombarded me with yours since I don't know when.
Alan
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| Sun Apr 27, 2008 19:45 pm What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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Oh, right.  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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| Sun Apr 27, 2008 23:35 pm What's the difference between 'some time' and 'sometime'? |
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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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