when/while/as

Question

1- When she arrived home, I was watching TV.

2- While/As I was watching TV, she arrived home.

I know these are correct. But what about these?

3- When I was watching TV, the electricity went off.

4- While the electricity went off, I was studying Organic Chemistry.

Are 3 and 4 correct?

Teo · Accepted Answer

1- When she arrived home, I was watching TV. Correct.

2- While/As I was watching TV, she arrived home. Correct

3- When I was watching TV, the electricity went off. Correct

4- While the electricity went off, I was studying Organic Chemistry. Incorrect

When I went out, it was raining. -- correct
While I went out, it was raining. -- incorrect
When it was raining, I went out. -- correct
While it was raining, I went out. -- also correct
When it was raining, I was going out. -- questionable
While it was raining, I was going out. -- questionable

Comments:

When and while are very often used in sentences that have both the past
progressive and simple past tenses. When this happens, while refers only to a
(comparatively) long action, but when can refer to either a (comparatively)
long or short action. In these situations, the short action interrupts the long
action (which began before the short action happened).

In your second example, went out is a shorter action than was raining, so when
should be used, not while.

In your third and fourth examples, both when and while are possible, since when
can refer to both (comparatively) long actions and (comparatively) short
ones and while is appropriate with (comparatively) long actions only.

Your last two examples are grammatical, but probably not logical. They mean
that for the entire period of time that it was raining, you were going out.
It's much more logical that "go out" is short, while "rain" is long. For that
reason, having two past progressive verbs doesn't seem logical.

Dennis Oliver
Estrella Mountain Community College
Avondale, Arizona U.S.A.

Teo · Answer

They can have the same meaning if one or both of the actions is/are long.
However, if both actions are short, we use "when."
e.g. When/While I was eating dinner, I was watching TV.
When/While I was watching TV, I threw up!
When I threw up, I dropped my fork.

I hope this helps.

Mike

Anonymous · Answer

3 correct

Anonymous · Answer

when+ s.present tense / s.past are correct but when + past continuous tense is INCORRECT ..
and also WHILE + PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE IS CORRECT BUT WHILE + S. PAST TENSE IS INCORRECT..
3- While I was watching TV, the electricity went off.

4- when the electricity went off, I was studying Organic Chemistry.

these are correct ..

when/while/as

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