Difference Between During and While

During vs. while

These days there are so many grammatical errors that are often accepted. The worse thing is, you can even hear it or see it broadcasted to the public. In the contemporary grammar there are some errors that are somehow accepted. Still, there are some errors that must be properly dealt with. One important grammatical usage that should be focused upon are the words ‘while’ and ‘during.’ These words both tell that something else is happening the same time as another. However, there are proper times when the usage of these words should be followed.

Here are some examples of using the word ‘during’ in the wrong way: ‘I was eating during watching television.’ Awkward, right? The right way in stating this sentence is: ‘I was eating while watching television.’ Though they both mean two things are happening at the same time, they still have different usage. Here is an example of using the word ‘while’ incorrectly: ‘you can drink soda while the game.’ The correct way in stating this sentence is: ‘you can drink soda during the game.’ It is clear that there is a big difference in using these words in a sentence even though they mean the same.

It is very important that you must be particular in the grammatical usage of these words, because this may just ruin the entire construction of your sentence. Let us differentiate the way these words are used. If you can notice, the word during must be followed by a noun and the word while is followed by a clause. Another difference between these two is the word during is a preposition and the word while is a conjunction.

With these differences, you can see that they cannot be used interchangeably. You can notice that the word while is followed by a sentence. Not only that, the subject and the verb follow the word while. On the other hand, a noun follows the word during. That noun is the event that is happening at the same time the other event is taking place. This shows that there are two activities happening at the same time.

Here are some sentences where the word while is used: ‘I was playing basketball while I ate hotdog’. Another is: ‘I was driving while I was singing my favorite song.’

Here are some examples of using the word during: ‘I was calling you during the presentation.’ Another example is: ‘I was running fast during the marathon.’

As you can see, it is quite easy to determine where to put the words during and while. It is also very clear how it must be properly used. With these, your sentence will properly be constructed.

Summary:

1.

Though both means two things are happening at the same time, during is a preposition and while is a conjunction.
2.

During is followed by a noun and while is followed by a sentence.
3.

While is followed by the subject and the verb and during is followed by a noun phrase representing the other event which is also happening.

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