Sometimes, Sometime or Some Time?

Do you sometimes get confused about whether to write sometimes, sometime or some time? Have you finally decided that you need some time to make sense of it all? Or will you do that sometime in the future?

Take a look at these sentences:

Sometime later, let’s go for dinner.

Some time later, she was ready.

Sometimes, late in the evenings, she gets lonely.

The woman, a sometime socialite, now keeps to herself.

Would you have known which to use in each of those examples?

These three words and their meanings aren’t exactly self-explanatory, so here’s a helpful guide to figure out which one you need.

Sometime

(ADVERB AND ADJECTIVE)

Sometime can function as an adverb and as an adjective, and its meaning is quite different depending on how you’re using it.

As an adverb, sometime means at some point. Usually, it’s referring to a vague point in the past or the future — one that hasn’t been specified yet or can’t be recalled exactly. However, it’s not a stretch of time; it’s a single point in time.

It’s kind of like saying someday or at some point.