What’s the Difference Between ‘sometimes’, ‘sometime’, ‘always’, and ‘all ways’?

There are many words that are a little bit tricky which make English a little bit confusing. The words ‘some  time’, ‘sometimes’, ‘sometime, ‘always’, and ‘all ways’ are words that are spelled somewhat the same, but written and spoken differently, and also have different meanings.

This is where you have to pay attention to how these words are particularly spoken and where the pauses are in between them.

1. Sometimes  is an adverb of frequency. It shows how often you do something.

“Sometimes I jog down at the lake.”

(It’s not every week, not every day, but sometimes I do, and sometimes I don’t.)

1. Sometime. This one has no ‘S’ in the end, and that’s how you’d know it’s different.

1. It can talk about a time in the future

      “Sometime next year I will buy a new car.”

1. It can talk about an indefinite time in the past.

     “Sometime last week a package arrived from my friend in Spain.”

(This means I really don’t know the exact day or time, but looking back at last week, I am pretty sure it was somewhere within that time frame).

1. Some time is an amount of time.

“I have some time tonight, so if you want to watch a movie, I can go with you.”

(This means ‘I have some free time to go with you.’ You don’t have to put “free” in the middle but the meaning is understood. It means you have a little free time to do something with someone.)

1. Always is an adverb of frequency. This means you do something regularly.

“I always eat lunch with my officemates.”

“I always sleep at 9 in the evening.”

“I always take the garbage out at 6 in the morning.”

“I always take my dog out for a walk.”

1. All ways. “All” means total, while “ways” means methods, steps, directions, or paths that you can take. This refers to the number of possible ways to do a thing.

“All ways lead to that white house in the middle of the woods.”

Here are more examples:

1)  The furniture is supposed to be delivered sometime next week.

(Sometime because you are talking about a future time.)

2)  I invited Ralph to go to the ranch this Saturday, and he said he has some time this weekend to come with me.

(Some time because Ralph has free time this weekend.)

   I need to get some time off work because I get too stressed at times.

3)  You emailed a business partner to go fishing next Sunday, and he replies, “ I sometimes visit my sister and her family during weekends. I’ll arrange my schedule and get back to you sometime tomorrow.”

(Sometimes because there are times that he visits his sister and it may be next Sunday already.)

4)  I always see that squirrel climbing on that tree by the kitchen.

5)  This type of problem can come around all ways.

(This means coming from every direction.)

    He tried all ways to fix that leaking roof.

   She did all ways to finish the project.

• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Vocabulary

Author

Dorothy Ogues

I have a passion for the English language because it is such a powerful tool for creativity and personal development. I've been writing articles since I was in High School. I represented my school in English writing competitions in the city, regional, and national levels. When I was in college, I wrote a short story which was published in the University Literary Portfolio. In 2006, I worked as a call center agent in Cebu City. In 2007 up to 2008, I worked as an English accent trainer in a startup call center company. I have also been offering ESL lessons as a freelance tutor since February 2016.