Punctuation

Question

While is a word that is used as a noun, conjunction, adverb, verb and a preposition. When while is used as a noun, it stands for a period, however, the length of time is not finite. Because of this, it is advisable to use adjectives before this word.

1. In the second sentence, should the comma after "period" be replaced by a semi-colon?

2. "While" is not within inverted commas. It seems to be the modern trend but is it correct English?

Thanks.

Vsuresh · Accepted Answer

tamguatlayIn the second sentence, should the comma after "period" be replaced by a semi-colon?

Yes, I too think so, for "however" is not a conjunction.

tamguatlay"While" is not within inverted commas. It seems to be the modern trend but is it correct English?

I'm afraid I don't have an answer to this. Let us see what native speakers have to say about it.

CalifJim · Answer

tamguatlay'While' is a word that is used as a noun, conjunction, adverb, verb, and a preposition. When 'while' is used as a noun, it stands for a period; however, the length of time is not finite. Because of this, it is advisable to use adjectives before this word.

As shown above.

Adverbial conjunctions (also called conjunctive adverbs) are punctuated with a semi-colon and comma, thus:

Jeffrey doesn’t want to go to school today; nevertheless, his mother is making him attend classes.

An alternate punctuation is also possible:

Jeffrey doesn’t want to go to school today. Nevertheless, his mother is making him attend classes.

For a list of adverbial conjunctions (conjunctive adverbs), see

https://www.citationmachine.net/resources/grammar-guides/adverb/conjunctive/

The most frequently used in that list are probably 'however' and 'nevertheless'.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

tamguatlay2. "While" is not within inverted commas. It seems to be the modern trend but is it correct English?

No. A word as a word must be marked no matter how modern and trendy you may be. You can do it several ways. In the US, we use double quotation marks: "while". In the UK, they use single, what they call inverted commas: 'while'. You can use italics anywhere (Chicago does it in their manual, probably to avoid clutter), but I generally don't do it because I think they should be reserved for foreign words: while, quoique.

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