I’ve written several editions of Grammar 101 that focus on word pairs (or word trios) that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. You might remember the post on there, their and they’re, for example. Today, we’re approaching a similar topic, except the exact same letters are used in exactly the same order… there just happens to be a space in the middle.
Do you know the difference between sometime (one word) and some time (two words)?
It’s easy to see how someone, whether or not they learned English as a first language, can use sometime when they really mean to use some time (or vice versa). This is especially true when so much of our communication is verbal rather than written and, even when it is written, it can be filled with all sorts of errors and mistakes.
Sometime, when used as a single word with no space, usually refers to a vague or unspecific period of time.
I’ll go to the store sometime tomorrow afternoon.
In that sentence, it is being declared that I will be going to the store tomorrow afternoon, but I am not specifying an exact time. It will just be sometime in that “tomorrow afternoon” window. You can see how this kind of construction is similar to someday (one word), referring to some unspecific day within a period time.
Don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today, because someday never comes.
You may also find sometime being used as an adjective, to mean occasional or longtime. For example, you might say that Tim is a sometime advisor to Jerry. This could mean that Tim advises Jerry on a sporadic or periodic basis.
Some time, when used as two words, could be used two different ways. First, it could mean quite a while.
I’m hoping that the USD-CAD exchange rate will improve to 1.30, but that’s probably going to take some time.
In a related manner, some time could also simply mean an unspecified quantity or period of time.
It takes some time for the water to boil in the kettle.
As you can see, even though sometime and some time are spelled using the same letters in the same order and are pronounced the same way, they are not interchangeable. It is important to take notice of this difference in any of your written correspondence.
If you have a suggestion for a future Grammar 101 topic, please leave a comment on this post. I’ll get to it sometime in the future.
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