hello teacher
could you tell me the defference of during and while
thanks in advance
Hi Hanygeorge,
Thanks for your message. The main difference is that ‘during’ is a preposition and ‘while’ is a conjunction. So you write: During the afternoon, which means at some times in the afternoon/ not all the time. You write: While I was watching television, my friend telephoned me, which means my friend telephoned me as/at the same time as I was watching television. You could use both words in the same sentence like this: During the evening, while I was watching television, my friend telephoned me.
Hope this helps
Alan
Hi Alan. Today I read very interesting sentence.
While we are busy, we are always ready to help you
To be honest, I was very surprised. Maybe word WHILE has the same meaning whis words INSPITE and THOUGH.
What is your opinion?
Thanks. Zulfiya
Dear Zulfiya,
Please, look at these senteces:
Although we are very busy, we are always ready to help you.
Inspite of being very busy, we are always ready to help you.
We are always ready to help you, though we are very busy.
We are always ready to help you. We are very busy, though.
You might find more information on this topic here: define though[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Sitting around a table[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hello, dear Torsten.
Your explanation was very useful for me . But I see you have forgetten about word While. Do you agree with sentence which was written by me before with word WHILE. Maybe you are sure that author is mistaken and using of this word isn’t correct.
What do you think?
Thanks. Zulfiya
Hi Zulfiya,
Perhaps I could add something here about ‘while’ in your sentence ‘While we are busy …’ You are perfectly right in indicating that in this sentence there is a suggestion of ‘although’.
Let me give you another sentence using ‘while’ that way: While I understand your financial problems, I can nevertheless not lend you any money. In this sentence ‘while’ combines both the idea of contrast and time. The meaning is: At the same time as understanding your financial problems I still cannot lend you any money. To differentiate between the two types of ‘while’, you have to make it clear with words like ‘still’ ‘nevertheless’ when you are referring to the contrast rather than simply the time or duration.
Hope this helps.
Alan
Hello Alan, thank you very much.
Zulfiya.
as a simple check remember that WHILE is followed by a subject and verb and DURING is followed by a noun
Hi! Beats me!! ‘sleep for a while’ What does mean ‘while’ here?
thanks
pupil :oops:
‘sleep for some time’ (‘time’ can be a preposition, a conjunction or a noun as in your sentence)[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: A relaxing drink[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi Torsten. Your explanation is very difficult for me. I didn’t get it. :oops:
Pupil
Hi Pupil,
You can ‘sleep a while’ or you can ‘sleep for some time’.
Does this make any sense to you?[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Two jogging women[YSaerTTEW443543]
YES!!! Torsten
Thanks
Pupil :x
Is it only my impression or these sentences are listed in order of willingness to help?
To me, the last example has a downright negative connotation and sounds less obliging, more like:
We are always ready to help you. However, please kindly stop pestering us as we are too busy for your insignificant requests.
Well, those examples were given for grammar purposes. In a business situation I wouldn’t use phrases like we are busy because this is the very nature of business anyway and as you pointed out it would send the wrong message to potential customers. Also, it makes the other party feel small and insignificant. It’s much better to give your customers the feeling that they are the most important aspect of your business because this is the truth.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, question-response: What time do you want to meet?[YSaerTTEW443543]
dear
can you tell me the differences between during and in?
thanks.
Hi spdazero,
Generally speaking, in - when used as a temporal preposition - refers to a moment in time: I read the paper in the morning.
During expresses duration: During my holidays I missed reading the paper.
So what’s the difference here, Ralf?
I read the paper in the morning.
I read the paper during the morning.
It would be great if you could use your skills to help non-native speakers like spdazero; especially seeing that it is his first contribution to this forum. Please respect genuine questions and try not to confuse our learners for the sake of quibbling.
My question was genuine.