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Chapter 2.b. While Vs When

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9 views3 pages

Chapter 2.b. While Vs When

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Ari Widyantari
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Difference: When vs.

While
What's the difference between the subordinate conjunctions when and while?

In some sentences, you can use either without a great change in meaning. Generally, if you want to focus on an
action that has a duration being in progress, use a while + a progressive tense.

Example:
While I was washing the dishes, my wife came home. (Washing the dishes has a duration, e.g. 4 minutes.)
(Note: you can also use when here, but as a general rule, while is suitable.)

In other cases when you don't need to emphasize that an action was in progress or the action is short and without
a significant duration, use when and past tense.

Examples:
When it started to rain, we went inside. (The action started is short; it is not something in progress).

Here are some tips on the use of these two conjunctions.

Tip #1: Use a Progressive (Continuous) Tense with While to Show Focus

Progressive tenses use Past Continuous:


Subject + to be (was/were) + Verb-ing

While I was cooking dinner, the phone rang.


We use while to focus on an action happening at a specific time. Therefore, the most natural verb tense to use is a
progressive tense, which shows that an action is in progress at a certain time.

It is common to use while with actions happening at a specific time (e.g. at 11 p.m.). Also, we use while to show that a
shorter action (usually in the past simple, e.g. the phone rang) happened during as a longer action (usually in past
progressive, e.g. I was cooking dinner). Often this shorter action interrupts the longer action.
Tip #2: Use While with Actions that have a Limited Duration

When I was a child, I played soccer. (Correct)


While I was a child, I played soccer. (Incorrect)

Why is #2 not natural? Well, when an action is too long (e.g. I was a child), we lose focus. The period of twelve years
when you were a child is too long to use a progressive tense. We don't use 'while' to talk about long periods of our lives.
Instead, we use when and past simple. There's another reason.

Tip #3: Use While with Action Verbs

Also, "While I was a child" is unnatural because the BE verb (was a child) is a state verb. State verbs are not action verbs
(e.g. jump, kick, shower, drink). Instead, state verbs describe states or conditions (e.g. BE, live, understand, know, exist).
We do not use progressive tenses with state verbs. As a result, we generally don't use while with state verbs.

Compare:

While she was driving, I played with the radio. (Correct)


This is correct. Driving is an action verb and the action is limited in duration. In other words, driving is a short activity that
has a clear start and end.

While When I lived in my hometown, my mother made me dinner. (Incorrect)


Live is a state verb, and also, the action of living in my hometown probably had a duration of 18 years. This is too long to
focus on.
Remember: While Means an Action Had a Start and an End (a Duration)

If a sentence uses while, it suggests that the action happened over a period of time.

Example:

When the phone rang, I was making lunch.

From the example above, the longer action (making lunch) was happening when a shorter action happened (phone rang).

Key concept: How many times did the phone ring? Because we're using when, we don't know. The use of when doesn't
suggest it was an ongoing action. The phone may have rang once and stopped.

Additional Knowledge (Specific Situation):


While the phone was ringing, I was making lunch.

How many times did the phone ring here? More than once. Because we are using While + past continuous, we are focusing
on duration. This means that the action (ring) happened over a period of time that had a start and end. When we say 'the
phone was ringing' in the progressive, we are saying that this happened for some time.

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