Difference between waiting and awaiting

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Dear Teachers,

Could you please explain the difference between waiting and awaiting in the context of the following sentences:

  1. I am waiting to receive your reply at the earliest.
  2. I am awaiting to receive your reply at the earliest.

Thanks

2

Dear Riaz (I welcome myself back on the forum :smiley: )

Await is a formal word and mostly used with abstract objects. Unlike wait, it does not take the preposition for..

1- We are still awaiting instructions.
2- Back then, I was awaiting my result.

Tom

Ps: Thank you, Amy and Conchita,for such gigantic support.

3

Hi riazuddin

I’ve got an additional comment about your sentences.

The phrase “at the earliest” doesn’t work in this context. I assume you were thinking of the phrase “at your earliest convenience” which is a more formal way to say “as soon as possible” (ASAP). For example:

Please reply at your earliest convenience.

To make the above sentence more urgent, you can add the word “possible”:

Please reply at your earliest possible convenience.

Also, rather than using “wait” in a sentence like this, you will often find the verb “look forward to”. Using the word “wait” can sound impatient and therefore could also sound rude.

Examples:
We look forward to receiving a reply at your earliest convenience.

We are looking forward to a fast reply.

Amy

PS
We have all been awating Tom’s return to the forum.
Welcome back, stranger. :smiley:

4

Welcome back from me, too, Tom :slight_smile: . We had come to expect (and appreciate!) your daily presence in the forum and it felt strange without you!

5

Hi, Please check

Hi Miss XXX

While we are awaiting approval for New York to Texas test connectivity/link connectivity testing, please also include the NY going to LA testing/test on your plans.

Thank you,

6

We await approval for New York to Texas test connectivity/link connectivity testing. Please also include the NY to LA testing/test in your plans.

Separate ideas work best as separate sentences.
We await is active; and suggests eagerness, while the passive we are awaiting yends more to suggest impatience and annoyance, and is borderline rude.

Link connectivity is normally bidirectional,so saying New York/Texas and NY/JA would be best, but the “to” form is OK, Adding “going” indicates movement, and movement in one direction, and doesn’t fit communications links.

There are items IN your plans, nit on your plans. They would be ON an agenda, not in it. Ain’t this a wonderfully confusing language?

7

oh my… Sir, thank you and I really admire your explanation. But I don’t know how to technically adopt on your passive/active explanations. I hope I could learn more from you on this.

Thank you,

8

Forms of the verb “to be” generally are classifying or describing something, Most other verbs have the subject of the sentence actually engaged in an action. Because active verbs show something, rather than telling things, they produce stronger sentences; after all, seeing is believing.

9

[quote=“SteveThomas”]

We await is active; and suggests eagerness, while the passive we are awaiting yends more to suggest impatience and annoyance, and is borderline rude.

Steve Thomas your attention is needed here:

  1. We are awaiting for the plane. (active voice of the present simple).

2.The plane is being awaited by us. (passive voice of the present simple).

Please digest it meticulously.

Thanks.
:slight_smile:

10

Hi, sorry I was in a hurry and I made a terrible mistake.
But corrections are made here:

  1. (active voice of the present progressive).

  2. (passive voice of the present progressive).

Thanks.

11

Sentence #1 makes me think of a hillbilly, except he’d say “We wuz awaiting on the dadburn aero-plane, and a-cussin’ and a-spittin’ whilst we wuz awaitin’.”

I’m not sure about this, but I think that awaiting requires an event, rather than a “thing”. You’re waiting for the arrival of the plane, or you’re waiting for the flight stewards to allow boarding of the plane.

Awaiting is a word of limited utility. “The crowd in the arena was restless, expectant, breathlessly awaiting Elvis’s arrival on the stage, decades after his death…” I suspect Elvis will reappear before I find occasion to use “await” again.

12

Hi, Thomas my attention was on the tenses, but I didn’t pay attention to (waiting and awaiting).
I suppose they have a subtle distinction. But await could be understood as (waiting for, be in store for).

As said, I was greatly concerned about the tenses.

But you can consult the dictionary.

But please your usage of WUZ, will confound learners the more.

Nice time.

Thanks for cotton on.

13

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14

'To un-confound those I’ve done a disservice to, there is no such word as wuz, It’s the phonetic spelling of was, pronouned by someone with a hillbilly’s drawl. They also tend to throw in “a-” at the start of verbs ending in “ing”, and are ridiculed for ttat by those of other dialects. My apologies.