“Let's not get bogged down in the details at this point.”

English Lesson: Let's not get bogged down in the details at this point.

You're an architect. You're designing a house for a couple, and having an early meeting to talk about the design. They start to ask you very specific questions about one of the rooms in your floor plan. You think that you need to talk about more general issues first, so you say this.

Let's not get bogged down in the details at this point.

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at this point

"At this point" means "now". Use it when something was different before:

I'll take any job I can get at this point. I've been out of work for over eight months.

Almost everything has been taken care of at this point.

You can also use "at this point" to talk about something that might change in the future:

I'm not interested in selling it at this point. I'll let you know if I change my mind.

Let's not (do something)

"Let's not ___" is the opposite of "Let's ___". However, "Let's not ___" sounds much more formal.

You usually use "Let's not ___" when you're trying to guide other people to be more reasonable. For example:

Let's not jump to conclusions.

Let's not waste it.

get bogged down in (details)

A "bog" is a muddy swamp. So you can imagine that "getting bogged down" in details is like getting stuck in the mud. If you talk too much about the details of something, you won't move forward with more important discussions.

You don't always have to use the word "details" when you talk about "getting bogged down". You can also give examples of the kind of details that you want to avoid: For example, you could say this when giving someone advice on how to write an essay for a History class:

Try not to get too bogged down in the names of historical figures and the dates when events happened. Focus on why they happened.