[Vocabulary] get round to & get down to

[4ania4]

Hello everyone,
is there a difference between:
get round to
and
get down to?

The course book says that:
Does it take you a long time to get round to answering your emails or do you do it straight away?
and
Do you find it difficult to get down to work on a new project?
are correct.

What if I swap the phrases:
Does it take you a long time to get down to answering your emails or do you do it straight away?;
Do you find it difficult to get round to work on a new project?

Are the sentences still OK and do they still mean the same?

Thank you very much for your help?

 

[Rover_KE]

Stick to what your course book says.

Rover

 

[Tdol]

They're similar, but get round to involves finding the time to do something, often because you have been putting it off because you don't want to do it. Get down to involves getting started on something, applying yourself to it.

 

[4ania4]

Thank you very much for the explantion. I would not have asked. But the sentences I cited above are preceded by the following definitions which cause the confusion:

get down to - start doing something that you have delayed

get round to - do something that you have planned or wanted to do for a long time

Unfortunately, I didn't pay enough attention to the verb "start" in the first definition and I could not see the difference.

Finally, I found this definition of "get down to" in Macmillan Dictionary:

to start doing something seriously or with a lot of effort.

So your explanation and the last definition has made the difference obvious.

Thank you again.

 

[Tdol]

So, after you got down to some dictionary work, the distinction became clear. ;-)