My car will continue to have tyres and I will not tire of driving it, darn you! Use 'while' if the next word begins with a consonant. If followed by a word beginning with a vowel, then the 'st' form gives a more euphonious transition: compare 'while I was' to 'whilst I was'.
To my ear, it ends up as the choice between between sounding like Adele all glo'al stops or Sue Lawley word endings horribly audible. I had said it to him as he was near my desk and I wanted to ask a question: "Whilst you are over here If he had already been speaking to me I think I would have said "while". I can't explain that in technical language. But if feels right. I can't see how that's pretentious. I certainly wouldn't have been showing off the use of my language to an American.
Kath, Bath UK Having trawled through a number of forums without finding a definitive answer, it seems to me that one explanation offered that is most plausible is the idea that whilst should be used in close association with a verb. It is always from the colonials as we were once known that the finest understanding and usage of the English language may be had.
Indian and Irish writers are proof of this. Also those Europeans for whom like us English was a second language, i. Joseph Conrad. Biddy, Galway Ireland Typing this while drinking my tea. Whilst there may be a debate, the answer is simple: Mike West is right.
Paul Campbell, Twickenham England "Whilst" has always struck me as a fancyfied form of "while" and one that allows excessive opportunity for spelling error. And Mike West needs to curb his ire otherwise he might find his tyres hitting the kerb. Brian Smith, Radlett UK I have been reading for a whilst, the reasons you educated blokes give to explain the difference "While" and "Whilst" whilst my tea got coldER See you later Alligater In a while Crocodile Ronald Becker, Nottingham but Londoner UK When I was trying to search to similarity in German Forgive me, but it is the only Germanic language that I know , I found that "-s" endings are often found in adverbs from nouns, eg in the pair of 'Eben' noun: night and 'ebens' adv: at night.
I believe the "-st" ending in English has the same effect - making nouns into adverbs. In this case, "while" was believably a noun itself, and "whilst" was the related adverb, at least it was. As for use of "while" as an adverb, I believe that it was the descendant of "whilst", having the "-st" ending dropped, as well as the "-st" dropping in the 2nd person singular verbs and the "-th" shift to "-s" in the 3rd person singular verbs. This looks like a good explanation to me, but if I am wrong, I beg you right it.
Ps, I personally use "while" most of the time, but I often use "whilst" to make things look formal and serious. English wasn't Joseph Conrad's second language, it was something like his ninth!!
That makes his writing even more impressive. Peter Barnes, Manchester UK L Shen's explanation comes closest to my understanding: that while was used for parallel actions I typed a message while listening to music and whilst for interruptive the phone rang whilst I was watching TV.
I say 'was' because whilst always seems wrong to my ears, almost as archaic as saying doth instead of does. As a magazine editor for 25 years, I have always avoided the word in my publications. Whilst Danny was sleeping in, his little brother swiped his cell phone. Grammarly can save you from misspellings, grammatical and punctuation mistakes, and other writing issues on all your favorite websites. We chatted for a while. We used to whilst away the long summer days in the pool. We used to while away the long summer days in the pool.
The Sun With some important data still to come in, the possibility of GDP either inching forward or backwards remains evenly balanced, while there is little chance the RBA of moving at all. Real-time suggestions, wherever you write.
While and whilst mean the same when we use them as conjunctions. While is much more common than whilst , and whilst sounds more formal:. When can mean the same as while , but when can also refer to a point in time. When the phone rang, she answered it immediately. We spent a while looking at the boats in the harbour before going for lunch. While does not mean the same as when :. Always keep some change with you. When I came home, I made some dinner then watched TV. Root and branch Idioms with nature words, Part 3.
While and whilst. While or whilst? See also: Whereas. While or when? Not: While the phone rang …. While as a noun. Typical error. Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes. Image credits. Word of the Day slow city. Blog Root and branch Idioms with nature words, Part 3 October 20, Read More. New Words pivot space. October 25, To top. Adjectives and adverbs Adjectives and adverbs Adjectives and adverbs Easily confused words Nouns, pronouns and determiners Prepositions and particles Using English Verbs Words, sentences and clauses Easily confused words Easily confused words Nouns, pronouns and determiners Nouns, pronouns and determiners Prepositions and particles Prepositions and particles Using English Using English Verbs Verbs Words, sentences and clauses Words, sentences and clauses.
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Comparison: adjectives bigger , biggest , more interesting Comparison: clauses bigger than we had imagined Comparison: comparisons of equality as tall as his father As … as. Adverbs Adverb phrases Adverbs and adverb phrases: position Adverbs and adverb phrases: typical errors Adverbs: forms Adverbs: functions Adverbs: types Comparison: adverbs worse, more easily Fairly Intensifiers very, at all Largely Much , a lot , lots , a good deal : adverbs Pretty Quite Rather Really Scarcely Very.
Above or over? Across , over or through? Advice or advise? Affect or effect? All or every? All or whole? Allow , permit or let? Almost or nearly? Alone , lonely , or lonesome? Along or alongside? Already , still or yet? Also , as well or too? Alternate ly , alternative ly Although or though? Altogether or all together? Amount of , number of or quantity of? Any more or anymore? Anyone , anybody or anything?
Apart from or except for? Arise or rise? Around or round? Arouse or rouse? As or like? As , because or since?
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