When-while dilemma

Question

The following questions were asked by a good friend of mine who wanted to know what is the difference between while and when. I will be delighted if anyone supplies the correct answer and provide an explanation to every answer

1.How fast (did they travel/were they travelling) when their car (had/was having) a puncture?
2.A police car (passed/was passing) us on the motorway when we (did/were doing) 80 miles per hour.
3.He (didn't like/wasn't liking) the photo when he (saw/was seeing) it
4.I'm sorry I (woke/was waking) you.What (were you dreaming/did you dream about)?

Trouper

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

I am puzzled because I did not see any "whiles" in your sentences. It seems like you are asking about writing sentences with 2 independent actions and using the past continuous verb forms.
The -ing form is used to indicate an action that happened over a period of time. If there are 2 actions happening at the same time, for a period of time, both verbs can be the -ing form.
I was reading when my sister was playing with her dolls. While is usually a better choice of conjunctions than when. It reinforces the idea of simultaneous activity. I was reading while my sister was playing with her dolls.
There are subtle differences. For example:

The accused had an alibi. When the crime was being committed, he was drinking with his friends.
It implies that the witnesses will testify that his drinking started before the time the crime began, and ended after the crime completed. But "while" is also OK.

Trouper1.How fast were they travelling when their car had a puncture? (Usually a puncture happens very fast, at one point in time)
2.A police car passed us on the motorway when we were doing 80 miles per hour. (I suppose that your car was travelling at 80 MPH for a period of time. "Passed" makes more sense than "was passing", because the police car might have been going 100 MPH and passed by quickly. "Was passing" is OK, but implies an awkward scenario somewhat like this: You were going 80 MPH, the police car 80.2 MPH, and after some time it passed you, and then you changed your speed. )
3.He didn't like the photo when he saw it. (He didn't like it after you showed it to him.)
4.I'm sorry I woke you. What were you dreaming about? (You observed the person in a dream state - maybe they were talking or moving in their sleep.)

Philip · Answer

Quote from A

s. The -ing form is used to indicate an action that happened over a period of time. If there are 2 actions happening at the same time, for a period of time, both verbs can be the -ing form.

I was reading when my sister was playing with her dolls. While is usually a better choice of conjunctions than when. It reinforces the idea of simultaneous activity.

I think the more important factor is the implication of continuous action (while), rather than simply the simultaneous factor.
I was reading while she was playing the piano ~ I jumped when the bell rang.

My explanation is not hard and set, of course, but I think it's a good place to start for a student beginning to understand the difference between while and when.

When-while dilemma

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