Confused Words - sometime or sometimes?

161,631 views ・ 2011-03-09

Learn English with Rebecca


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hi, my name is Rebecca and in today's video we are going to talk about the difference
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between two words "sometimes" and "sometime".
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There is a difference, alright?
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Not just in spelling.
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The first one, of course, I said "sometimes" with the "s" and in the second one I said
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"sometime" without the "s".
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Let's understand exactly what the difference is between these two, ok?
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So when I say that I do something "sometimes", it means that I do it on certain occasions,
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not all the time.
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For example, sometimes I go to a movie, right?
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Sometimes I go shopping in the middle of the week.
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I don't do it all the time, I do it sometimes, right?
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For example, sometimes I pick up dinner from an Indian restaurant.
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Another example, sometimes I wish I had completed university, right?
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So this means I don't think that or do that all the time, but only on certain occasions.
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So if this is time, right, if this is a timeline representing time, I do it only on certain
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occasions and not continuously through the time, alright?
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That's "sometimes".
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So there is certainty here.
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I know when I do these things, I know when I think of these things, correct?
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There is certainty.
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Let's contrast that with the second one which is "sometime".
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Now the word "sometime" is used to describe something that happens at an unknown time
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or place in the past or the future.
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What do we mean by that?
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What do we mean by an unknown time?
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For example, suppose you're telling me about John and you say, "John got married sometime
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last year", right?
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You don't know exactly when, but you know that he got married last year.
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So you say, "John got married sometime last year", or, ok, just a moment, that one is
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to describe the past, correct, because it was last year.
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Now let's see how we can refer to an uncertain period of time in the future.
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I would like to visit Italy sometime next year.
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Or I would like to visit Italy sometime in my life.
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I don't know when, so there is uncertainty, right?
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So this uncertainty could refer to the past, as in the example with when John got married,
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or it could refer to uncertainty in the future.
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So if I say, "See you sometime", means at some point in the future which we don't know
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right now, which is not certain.
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But if I tell you that I meet John sometimes, it means that we meet on certain occasions,
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but not all the time, ok?
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I know sometimes English can be quite frustrating.
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One little letter, an "s", can completely change the meaning of the word and the way
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the word is used.
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I hope this little lesson has made it a little bit easier for you.
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If you have any other questions, please feel free to write to me at www.engvid.com.
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Thanks very much and keep working on your English.
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Bye for now.
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