While

Question

Hi,ex1) While I was walking my dog, a friend called me.ex2) I made three phone calls while they were at lunch.ex3) While I watched a movie, she watched a sports game.My questions are as follows:Q1) An event expressed in a while-clause can be either dynamic or stative.  True or false? (My answer is true)Q2) When it refers to an dynamic event, it is always one-time action.  True or false? (I don't know the answer)ex) She took dance lessons two times a week while I attended a tennis lesson once a week during the summer vacation.Is "while" usable in this situation?Q3) An event denoted in a while clause is always the one that is in progress.  True or false? (I'm not sure)  As for example 2, suppose the lunch time lasted from 12:00 to 1:00.  Is the event in the main clause presented as a complete whole?  I made three phone calls, during our lunch break, which lasted from 12:00 to 1:00.  Can this be the intended meaning of example 2, as far as the duration of the lunch-eating event is concerned? OR it is confined to only fraction of the lunch time?Q4) She visited me only twice while I lived in San Fernando Valley for a year.  Is this sentence grammatically correct? Q5) As for example 3, it can mean any of the following, correct?The duration of her watching a sports game&lt;the duration of my watching a movie.The duration of her watching a sports game=the duration of my watching a movie.I'd appreciate your help.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

jooneyQ1) An event expressed in a while-clause can be either dynamic or stative. True or false? (My answer is true)

These descriptions get tricky. You can't have an event in a while-clause. You can only have an activity (dynamic) or a state (stative). So, allowing for a slight error in the description, I'd say "True".

(Many grammarians get around this difficulty by using the more generic word "situation":

The situation expressed in a while-clause can be either dynamic or stative. True. )

jooneyQ2) When it refers to an dynamic event, it is always one-time action. True or false? (I don't know the answer)ex) She took dance lessons two times a week while I attended a tennis lesson once a week during the summer vacation.Is "while" usable in this situation?

No. In the while-clause there is activity through time, not a one-time action (event). You can have an event (one-time action) in the main clause, however.

Your example is so complex in terms of the various scopes of time one has to keep in mind that the reader ends up unable to hear "while" as truly temporal. I take the "while" in this example as a synonym for "whereas", which is more like "but", i.e., is not temporal in nature, but more nearly a matter of contrast.

jooneyQ3) An event denoted in a while clause is always the one that is in progress. True or false?

In progress, yes, if an activity. Existent, if a state. Sometimes the line between an activity and a state gets blurred.
At any rate, I believe you may have read my claim in several other posts: while forces an imperfective reading on the verb in its clause. This is what I mean by that. A while clause is always about an activity or a state.

As for Example 2, any of the following are possible, where X indicates a phone call:

................. [ ....................lunch................... ] .............................
...................X X X........................................................................
...................X......................X.......X.............................................
..........................................XX ..................X................................
..............................X.......................X X........................................
....................................................X..X...X.....................................
........................................***......................................................
...................X.......................X....................X................................

jooneyQ4) She visited me only twice while I lived in San Fernando Valley for a year. Is this sentence grammatically correct?

Yes. But there are more idiomatic phrasings, some of which don't even use the word while:

I lived in San Fernando Valley for a year. She visited me only twice while I lived there. (was living is also fine.)
She only visited me twice during the year I lived in San Fernando Valley. (was living is also fine.)

jooneyQ5) As for example 3, it can mean any of the following, correct?

The duration of her watching a sports gameThe duration of her watching a sports game=the duration of my watching a movie.

Yes, because all it says is that there was some overlap - some period of time in which both activities were happening.

S ~ Sports; M ~ Movie

Any of these could have happened, and the sentence would correctly report reality.
The bolded part is the period the sentence refers to.

1
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

2
................SSSSSSSSSSSS................
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

3
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
..................MMMMMMMMMMMMM......

4
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS............................
.......................MMMMMMMMMMMMMM

5
...........................SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
.......MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...............

CJ

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Jim,
I am always amazed by your techniques of illustrating the intricate grammar and the simple yet easy-to-understand examples.

I guess I'll never be able to do that!

CalifJim · Answer

Thank you, dimsumexpress.

dimsumexpressI guess I'll never be able to do that!

Patience. Practice. Never admit defeat!!!

CJ

Jooney · Answer

Thank you very much for the helpful illustrations and crystal clear answers.  It was of great help! <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

Dimsumexpress · Answer

bepleased,

<<<<There are some interesting way to show "to equal">>>>

I am going to be very honest with you. You either didn't understand or you chose to ignore the advice people have offered to you. We are not sure what you are trying to gain by the questions you have posted thus far. Most of the questions have grammatical and sentence structural problems. I suggest you spend you time and energy to clean up your grammar. Reading is a great tool because it can help you build your vocabulary, sentence pattern and preposition usages. leave the metaphor alone for now.

<<<<Iron is (belongs to ) her best quality.>>>>

As to this one, Why use "iron" ? It makes no sense. If you say:
Honesty is her best quality. That is fine.

Belong - will not work in this context.

While

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