At one point/ some point / a certain point in my life?

[Ashraful Haque]

1) At one point/some point/a certain point we'll look back on this and regret.
2) Most adult film actors leave the industry at one point/ some point/ a certain point in their lives.

I've been using 'at one point' and 'at some point' almost interchangeably. For some reason 'at a certain point' feels a bit different to me.
Please let me know if all of them are used in the same way and used for talking about both the past and the present, for example- 'I used to be very muscular back in the day but at one point/some point/ a certain point I got seriously injured and had to stop lifting for good.'

 

[tedmc]

They mean the same but I would more likely use the first two.

 

[Tarheel]

I would say at some point. (It refers to an indefinite point in time.)

 

[probus]

To me there is little or nothing to choose between one point and some point. As Ted said, their meaning is the same and without doing any actual research I suspect they are about equally common, while certain point is somewhat less common. If their relative frequency matters to you, you can consult a corpus or two. For American English I use the corpus maintained by Brigham Young University. Piscean recently drew our attention to a new corpus.

PS to Keanu. You are welcome to answer questions, but the rules say you must disclose that you are not a teacher. I've edited your reply to fix that. If you plan to continue answering you could add it to a signature file.

 

[jutfrank]

Use at some point. As post #3 points out, it refers to an indefinite point in time.

We use at one point or at a certain point to refer to a definite point in time, but that's not appropriate in your sentences because it's not what you mean.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

Thank you all for the answer. Here's what I understood from the answers:
'At one point' and 'at some point' can be used interchangeably for the most part. Although 'at one point' is more precise, for example:

- "Most adult film actors leave the industry at one point/certain point in their lives."- I might have a certain time on my mind (40/45 years old).
- "Most adult film actors leave the industry some point in their lives."- Indefinite point in time.

 

[emsr2d2]

You have omitted a word from the final sentence of your last post.

 

[Ashraful Haque]

You have omitted a word from the final sentence of your last post.

Thanks. I was kind of sleepy when I wrote it. :lol:

But have I understood it?

 

[Tarheel]

Thank you all for the answer. Here's what I understand from the answers:
'At one point' and 'at some point' can be used interchangeably for the most part. Although 'at one point' is more precise, for example:

- "Most adult film actors leave the industry at one point/certain point in their lives."- I might have a certain time on my mind (40/45 years old).
- "Most adult film actors leave the industry at some point in their lives."- Indefinite point in time.

I think you've got it.
:up: