Hi this is Ceema, thanks for clicking in because you have tuned to a very interesting lesson.
Well a student of mine had a major problem with understanding the difference between
two words which are while and when. And therefore I have made this lesson today because I know
that a lot of you who are learning English face a very similar challenge. So don't worry,
today I am going to help you understand when you’re going to use these words. Whether
you can use both these words in the same sentence or whether there is a difference between the
two. So stay tuned and you will get to know what the difference is?
Now the major difference or let's say these two words are used when you are talking about
two actions that happen at the same time. So instead of talking about the difference,
the one similarity between these two words is that they are both used for actions, two
actions happening at the same time. So why are they different? Well I have tried to you
know make a table to show you the difference between the two.
Now let's deal with the one word, which is while. You will use while in a sentence when
you have two continuous actions happening at that time, at the exact same time. So when
I talk about two continuous actions, I am talking about the present continuous tense.
So let's look at a sentence that will have two continuous actions with the word, while.
Okay, so I am teaching. Okay so I am teaching, we are in an action that has not yet gotten
over. It’s still happening so it's continuous. So I am teaching while my brother is playing.
He is still playing. You know he's out there, playing football or whatever it is, that he
wants to play. He’s not finished doing it. So I am teaching, a continuous action which
will be followed by the word, while. My brother is playing, another continuous action. Okay
so always remember that, when you have two continuous actions, whether it is in the present
or the past, you will always use the word, while.
But what about the word when? Now here's the difference. When you are using the word, when,
you are going to have, two actions, happening at the same time but the difference is that,
they are going to be two single actions not continuous actions but two single actions.
Let’s look at the sentence, the sentence says, he called me when I got home. Okay so
two actions have already happened. They are two single actions. So he called me, okay
on the phone and I got home, I just entered my house. Okay now, in some cases one of these
actions could follow straight after the other. So maybe, he called me first and then I just
stepped home. Okay so either you have two single actions or you have one action followed
straight after the other one. Okay so when you have two single actions like that, you
will say, you will use the word, when because the sentence says, he called me when I got
home.
Okay this is one instance where you will use the word, when. But when can also be used
at other times, for example, when you are talking about ages and periods of life. Umm...
well if you are talking about an age, you know how old are you? When you are six, when
you are 8, when you are 21. You will talk about, you will use the word when, so I graduated
when I was 21. So we are talking about an age, therefore you will use the word, when.
What about periods of life? So periods of life relate to youth or your childhood or
you could say something like, when I was young, when I was young, I used to walk every day
or you could say I used to walk every day when I was young because we are talking about
a period of your life that relates to your youth. How about, you making a sentence when
you are a child. When I was a child, I used to eat a lot of chocolate. So you are talking
again about a period of your life.
Okay, now the third instance or the third time when you can use the word, when is when
you are asking a question to know or to get the answer as far as time is concerned. So
if your question will give you an answer about a time, that's when you will use, when. So
we have a sentence that says, when do we leave from here? Maybe we leave to 9 o' clock or
when does the party start? It starts about in an hour. Okay so that's another way you
will use the word, when.
So these are the major differences between using the word while or the word when in a
sentence.
Okay but what happens, when you have a continuous action and a single action in the same sentence.
Would you use the word while or would you use the word when? Well that's a tricky one.
I'm gonna show you very soon, what and how you will, you know get your sentence structure
to put both these words when you have single action and a continuous action.
Okay so I've got two new sentences for you which have both the single and the continuous
action. Now the first sentence says, he got into a fight, while we were shopping. Now
do you think we should only use the while here or could we also use the when. Let me
tell you, the standard rule that you need to apply is that when you have a single action
that comes before a continuous action, then both these words can be used. Which means
that if I were to say, he got into a fight, when we were shopping, that would be absolutely
right. So when you have a single action followed by a continuous action, there is no problem
with using either of these words. So if you said, he got into a fight while we were shopping
or if you said, he got into a fight when we were shopping, that is absolutely right.
Okay so in these kinds of sentences, you can use both these words interchangeably. But
you have a sentence, if you turn it around. So say for example, if we turn around this
sentence and put the continuous action before the single action, what do you get? What word
do you use? So if we turn around the sentence and said we were shopping. So it is a continuous
action, we are still doing it right? So we were shopping and the following action is
a single action, right? He got into a fight. It is an action already done, he's got into
a fight, he's fought already. So if we have a continuous action which is then followed
by a single action, then you can only use the word, when. I mean imine if you use the
word, while it wouldn't really make sense. So if you said, we were shopping, while he
got into a fight, that's not correct. You just say, we were shopping when he got into
a fight. Okay, so these are sentences which have both actions but now you know that you
can use either of these two words when you have a single action followed by the continuous
one. But you can only use the word, when, when you have a continuous action followed
by a single action.
Okay so I would encourage you to make your own sentences with only the while or only
the when and then try to make these kind of sentences which have both these words. I can
guarantee you that if you put these sentences and practise them every day you are going
to really improve when it comes to your learning English and speaking it.
That’s it from me on this lesson. I will be back with some more lessons, until then,
this is me saying goodbye.