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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Grammar
when, where, as
Please point out if I have made any mistakes: "When we arrived, they were having dinner." "We arrived while they were having dinner." Are they correct sentences? "When" clauses are always in the past simple tense, they can't be in the past continuous tense; while "while" clauses are always in the past continuous tense, they can't be in the past simple tense. What are the rules in other tenses, for example, in the present or future tense?
Can "as" be used to replace "when" or "while" in the two sentences? I am not sure of the use of "as" as an adverbial clause of time. I would appreciate if you could explain to me and give me some examples. Thanks a lot.
Can "as" be used to replace "when" or "while" in the two sentences? I am not sure of the use of "as" as an adverbial clause of time. I would appreciate if you could explain to me and give me some examples. Thanks a lot.
Top answer
"When" clauses are always in the past simple tense, they can't be in the past continuous tense; while "while" clauses are always in the past continuous tense, they can't be in the past simple tense. While it is a useful rule of thumb, it is not necessarily so; the words are simply not restricted that way in native speech or writing: She sliced the tomatoes w hile I peeled the onions. I forget everything else when I'm reading.
- "When" clauses are always in the past simple tense, they can't be in the past continuous tense; while "while" clauses are always in the past continuous tense, they can't be in the past simple tense.
- While it is a useful rule of thumb, it is not necessarily so; the words are simply not restricted that way in native speech or writing: She sliced the tomatoes w hile I peeled the onions.
- I forget everything else when I'm reading.
- As would work in place of either word.
- Some more as temporal clauses: As I was going to St.
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3 Answers
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"When" clauses are always in the past simple tense, they can't be in the past continuous tense; while "while" clauses are always in the past continuous tense, they can't be in the past simple tense.While it is a useful rule of thumb, it is not necessarily so; the words are simply not restricted that way in native speech or writing:
She sliced the tomatoes w
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Thank you Mr. Micawber. Your examples are very helpful. I'd like to know when it is not necessarily so. I can't seem to differentiate the usages. In your example " I forget everything else when I'm reading.", can "when" be replaced by "while" without changing the meaning? Are "when, while, as" interchangeable? Thank you very much.
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No, I don't think that they are interchangeable-- I was just indicating some cases where the difference seems unimportant.
While is going to appear with continuous tenses because the writer/speaker wishes to express the ongoing nature of that activity while the second activity (often a relatively instantaneous one) takes place: She came in while I was washing the dishes
While is going to appear with continuous tenses because the writer/speaker wishes to express the ongoing nature of that activity while the second activity (often a relatively instantaneous one) takes place: She came in while I was washing the dishes
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