0
Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

While - difficulties with meanings

Hi!

I have difficulties with "while" in these constructions:

Past Continuous+Past Simple
While Jo was washing her hair, I did my homework. (when she stopped washing it, was I still in process of doing my homework or had I already done it? how to convey these 2 meanings?)

Past Continuous+Past Continuous
While Jo was washing her hair, I was doing my homework. (she stopped washing it and at the same time I finished my homework. is that correct?)
  

Top answer

The first sentence more likely means that you did (and finished) your homework during Jo's activity. To indicate that you continued with your homework, I would reverse the use of the tenses: I was doing my homework while Jo washed her hair.

— Philip

  • The first sentence more likely means that you did (and finished) your homework during Jo's activity.
  • To indicate that you continued with your homework, I would reverse the use of the tenses: I was doing my homework while Jo washed her hair.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

6 Answers
0
The first sentence more likely means that you did (and finished) your homework during Jo's activity. To indicate that you continued with your homework, I would reverse the use of the tenses: I was doing my homework while Jo washed her hair.
0
0
Philip, thank you for your reply! I had thought as you

The first sentence more likely means that you did (and finished) your homework during Jo's activity.

but I found this site http://www.grammar-quizzes.com/adv_whenwhile.html , where in a sentence " While he
0
0
Anonymous" While he was talking, his baby slept" they mean that baby was sleeping at the time and after he talked.
The continuous tense has no definite limits. It indicates an open time period, i.e., with no exact beginning or end. The example given at that website could have been diagrammed differently. It shows just one possible case that is covered by th
0
0
Anonymous-
While Jo was washing her hair, I did my homework.
While Jo was washing her hair, I was doing my homework.
I don't sense any real difference between these two. There is no definite indication in the first one whether the homework was finished or not, in spite of the tense used there.

Note: The speaker is only talking about the time
0
0
AnonymousWhile Jo was washing her hair, I did my homework.
I'm a non-native so my interpretation may be a bit odd but I treat the subordinate clause While Jo was washing her hair as an adverbial that adds extra information about circumstances in which I did my work. I understand that at some point in the past I did (completed) my homewo
0
0
Anonymouswhere in a sentence " While he was talking, his baby slept" they mean that baby was sleeping at the time and after he talked. Do you have any idea why is that?
There is often overlap in the usage of people who are not particularly attentive to those minute details. We just live with, as long as we understand the intent of the sentence.
0

Related Questions