2021-05-03 ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด – A – anytime & sometime

Revision A

2021-05-03

ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด – A – anytime & sometime

แนะนำการใช้ ตามที่ส่วนใหญ่ใช้ แต่ละท้องถิ่น

ความหมาย อาจผันแปร ตาม ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค

Dictionary.com

ออกเสียง anytime = ‘EN-ee-tahym’

ออกเสียง sometime = ‘SUHM-tahym’

Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree

Sometime = at an unstated or indefinite time:

      Come up and see me sometime.

Not to be confused with:

some time = a little time; a short while:

I need some time away from my business.

sometimes = now and then, at times:

Sometimes I prefer the beach in the winter.

Common Errors In English Usage Dictionary

Anytime

Thoughit is often compressed into a single word

by analogy with “anywhere”

and similar words, “any time”

is traditionallya two-word phrase.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Usage Notes

Howand When to Use 'Sometime' and 'Anytime'

As opposedto 'some time' and 'any time'

Have you ever found yourself churning out a report or essay,

thoughts flowing, fingers scurrying along the keyboard,

and thenyou stumble over a spelling of a word?

But that word isn't something like eudaemonic,

it is the everyday sometime or anytime.

"Do I use the closed or open spelling?," you ask yourself.

Your brain is addled, and you are left staring at your screen,

hopelessly trying to puzzle out which one to use.

We're here to lessen this writerly stress

and help you confidentlyapply the right spellings

in your writing in this two-partlesson

on sometime/some time and anytime/any time.

The adverb sometime can mean

either"at some time in the future" or

"at some not specified or definitely known point of time in the past."

Affixing an "s"to the word forms the adverb

sometimes,meaning "at certain times" or "occasionally."

Sometime written as an open compound (some time)

alsohas adverbial use, but it is also a standard noun phrase.

As you probably guessed,

it is some time that causes the most confusion to writers and editors.

The adverb sometime is a closed compound

of some,which indicates an unspecified amount or number,

and time ("We should get together sometime";

"They arrived sometime late last night").

The phrase "some time" is also used adverbially.

Consider the sentence, "He arrived some time ago."

The difference between "sometime last night" and "some time ago"

may not be instantly apparent,

since both phrases have an adverbial function

—they indicate the time, though unspecified, of arriving.

(Refresher: adverbsindicate the time, manner, place, or degree of a verb, adjective, or another adverb.)

In "some time ago," however,

some and time still function within the phrase itself

as an adjective and a noun,

and that duo works together as a noun phrase.

A common use of some time as a true noun phrase

iswhen it follows a preposition

and functions as the object of a prepositional phrase,

which is always a noun or noun phrase ("She stayed for some time").

In "I have some time to help you,"

some time functionsas a modified noun

—together the words indicate what the subject "I" possesses (or has).

An easy way to tell

if some and time should be written as one word or two

is to insert quite before some and see if the passage still makes sense.

If it does, some and time should be written separately:

"We haven't seen them for quite some time";

"He arrived quite some time ago."

Ifit does not (as in "He arrived quite sometime last night"),

sometime isthe correct choice.

In addition, some time can be replaced with phrases

like "a shorttime" or "a long time,"

and substituting such a phrase in the sentence

can help determinewhich spelling to use.

For example,

in "We will arrange to meet some time next week,"

"a short/long time" is not substitutable for "some time,"

so sometime is the correct choice.

On the other hand,

in "It will take some time to fix,"

the substitution fits, so some time is correct.

Use of sometimes is rather uncomplicated.

The adverb is written as one word ("We all make mistakes sometimes").

You might also come across some times as a noun phrase following a preposition.

The adverb anytime means "at any time (whatever),"

and it is generally written as one word.

It does also occur, however, as an adverbial phrase

composed ofthe adjective any, which is used

to indicate a person or thing that is not particular or specific,

and the noun time, and, like some time, any time

can function as a standard noun phrase.

The combination of the adverbs anytime and anywhere

has become common in both speech and writing.

A rather famous example is from film director

Martin Scorsese's Travis Bickle (played by Robert De Niro)

in Taxi Driver (1976),

who says to hispersonnel officer, "I'll work anytime, anywhere."

More everyday examples of anytime are

"The taxi should be here anytime now"

(when it arrives, be sure to check out the cabbie);

"The situation doesn't seem like it will improve anytime soon";

"You can contact me anytime after 4."

In all these examples,

the definition "at any time" is substitutable for anytime.

When you encounterthe phrase any time,

look to see if it follows a preposition.

If it does, it is the object of a prepositional phrase

and, therefore,

it is considered a noun phrase (yes, we're teaching by repetition),

as in"You can get breakfast at any time of the day."

It also functions as a regular noun.

For example, in "The team does not have any time to spare,"

any is solely working as an adjective modifying the noun time.

Adverbial any time is often used in place of anytime.

In both of these examples"any time" can be replaced with "at any time":

… the workspaces look like a perfect environment

that isn't going to be replicated any time soon

in many corporate offices worldwide.
— Tom Warren, The Verge, 6 Mar., 2017

According to MLB rules, Dominican prospects are free agents,

not subject to an entry draft.

They can sign with teams any time after their 16th birthday.
— Bruce Schoenfeld, ESPN, 14 Mar. 2017

If you are unsure about your use of anytime,

you can either plug in the adverb's definition and see if it makes sense, or you can play it safe and use any time— and anytime, for that matter,

since it has acceptable use as both a noun and adverb phrase.

In sum, although there is no difference

in the closed and openspellings of sometime and anytime in speech,

there ison the screen and page.

The closed spellings are the true adverbs,

but the openspellings also have adverbial use.

Sometime and any time are noun phrases,

which are most recognizable when they are preceded by a preposition,

but take awaythat preposition and they function as adverbs.

Finally, some/any and time can be adjacent in a sentence

without beingadverbial or an object of a prepositional phrase;

they can just be what they are, an adjective and a noun.

We've been lecturing for some time now—class dismissed.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,

Sometime

Usage Note:

Since the 15th century people have used

sometime as an adjective to mean "former,"

as in our sometime colleague.

Since the 1930s people have also used it to mean "occasional,"

as in Duquette decided to trade Everett, the team's sometime star and sometime problem child.

Evidence suggests that this usage is now standard.

In 1975, a majority of the Usage Panel found this

"occasional" use unacceptable,

but in our 2002 survey,

70 percent accepted the example quoted above.

The adverbial use of sometime meaning "occasionally,"

however, was not met with much favor.

Only 19 percent accepted the sentence

The website is intended to help you navigate through

the sometime confusing maze of government regulations.

In such instances,

where an adjective (and not a noun) is being modified,

use sometimes instead.

See Usage Note at someday.

Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary

sometime

usage:

The adverb sometime is written as one word:

She promised to visit us sometime soon.

The two- word form some time means

“an unspecified interval or period of time”:

It will take some time for the wounds to heal.

Collins COBUILD English Usage

Sometimes – sometime

1. 'sometimes'

You use sometimes to say that something happens

on some occasions, rather than all the time.

The bus was sometimes completely full.

Sometimes I wish I was back in Africa.

2. 'sometime'

Don't confuse sometimes with sometime.

Sometime means 'at a time in the past or future

that is unknown or has not yet been decided'.

Can I come and see you sometime?

Sometime is often written as some time.

He died some time last year.

Collins English Usage

Usage:

The form sometime should not be used

to refer to

a fairly long period of time:

he has been away for some time (not for sometime)