DURING or WHILE?

Hi. Welcome back to www.engvid.com. My name is Rebecca, and in this lesson, I'm going

to show you the difference between two commonly confused words, which are "during" and "while".

Okay? Now, both of these words are used to refer to activities that are happening while

something else is happening or happened, and that's why it's easy to get them mixed up.

But actually, when we use them grammatically, they're quite different. So, let me show you

what that difference is. So, from the point of view of grammar, first of all, for those

of you who care about grammar, "during" is a preposition, and the word "while" is a conjunction.

Okay? Alright. Now, let's see what that means in effect when we use the word in a sentence.

So, we would say, for example, "Some people were talking during the movie." So, we are

using "during" plus a noun. Okay? That's the key. After "during", we use a noun. After

"while", we need to use - there are two possibilities - subject and verb, or we use "while" plus

a gerund. What is a gerund? A gerund is a verb in the -ing form, such as running, talking,

teaching. Okay? So, "during" plus a noun, "while" plus the subject and verb, or "while"

plus a gerund. Alright? Let's go step-by-step. So, "Some people were talking during the movie."

Right? Movie is a noun. Or, if we wanted to express the same thing using "while", we would

say, "Some people were talking while we were watching the movie." Okay? The "while" part

of the sentence can go at the beginning, or it can go in the middle. That's okay. So,

we could also say, "While we were watching the movie, some people were talking." Period.

Okay? But here, you saw "while" plus subject plus verb. Now, because "while" suggests something

is continuing, very often we will see here a continuous form of the verb. Okay? A continuous

tense. Present continuous, past continuous, and so on. Okay? Alright. But you could also

shorten it a little bit, and you could say "while" plus the gerund. For example, "While

watching the movie, some people were talking." Or, "Some people were talking while watching

the movie." Here, this verb "watching" becomes a gerund. Okay?

Now, let's look at some more examples. The best way to understand something is not just

from the theory, but from the practice. The practice examples, and then your own examples.

Okay? Let's look at another one. So, "We stayed indoors during the snowstorm." The snowstorm

is a noun, right? So, we could also say, "During the snowstorm, we stayed indoors." "Indoors"

means inside. Or, "While it was snowing, we stayed indoors." Okay? So, here we have "while"

plus the subject, plus the verb. Alright? Are you getting it? I'm sure you are.

Okay, the next one. "During" plus a noun again. "He felt quite confident during the interview."

Okay? Again, "during" plus a noun. Or, we could say, "He felt quite confident while

he was being interviewed." Or, "While he was being interviewed, he felt quite confident."

Okay? Or, if we want to go with "while" plus the gerund, we would just say, "While being

interviewed, he felt quite confident." Okay? Alright? So, that's the main thing, "during"

plus the noun. Okay? And "while" plus subject and verb, or "while" plus a gerund. So, let's

see how well you've understood that by trying out some examples. Alright, I'll be back.

Okay, so let's try some examples. Number one. "I met Susan ______ learning French." So,

what are your choices? "During" or "while". We're going to say "during" plus what? "During"

plus a noun, and "while" plus subject and verb, or "while" plus a gerund. So, what do

we have here? "I met Susan ______ learning French." So, "learning" is a gerund. Good,

I heard you. So, let's write "while". Okay? "While learning French". Okay, let's go to

the next one. Number two. "He read a lot ______ the summer." Okay? He read a lot during the

summer, or he read a lot while the summer? What do you think? Okay? "The summer" is what?

It's a noun. So, we need to say "during the summer". Good. Number three. "Please don't

interrupt ______ I am speaking." "Please don't interrupt ______ I am speaking." While

I am speaking or during I am speaking? What do we need? Is it a noun? No. It's a subject,

it's a verb. Right? So, we need to say "while". Okay? In the beginning, you need to think

about it a little bit, but afterwards, it'll become much more automatic. Okay? And the

way to do that is by practicing. Practicing it with your own sentences, practicing with

my sentences, and also practicing with our quiz on engVid and so on. Okay? I'll tell

you where to go for that. Okay. Number four. "_______ the lecture some people left." So,

what do we need? I think it's getting easier for you now. Right? So, here, we have a noun,

so we need to say "during the lecture". Okay? Nice. Number five. "He hurt himself _______

skiing." "He hurt himself _______ skiing." So, "skiing" is a gerund, so we need to say

"while". "He hurt himself while skiing." Number six. "She kept texting _______ the

meeting." "She kept texting _______ the meeting." What do we need there? What is this, the meeting?

It's a noun, so we need to say "during the meeting". Okay? Good, you got it. And the

last one. "Switch off your cellphones _______ the plane is taking off." Okay? You often

hear this announcement when you're flying. Okay? Before the plane takes off, they make

this announcement. "Ladies and gentlemen, please switch off your cellphones _______

the plane is taking off." Okay? So, here we have to say what? "While". And why did we

choose "while"? Because after that we have a subject and we have a verb. Okay? So, are

you getting the hang of it? Can you feel the rhythm? Because after some time, you basically

know what's right and wrong, not by analyzing it in your head as preposition, and conjunction,

and subject, and verb, but just like in your own language, just from the rhythm of it.

Okay? And eventually you'll have the right rhythm. So, in order to get that rhythm, read

these sentences aloud, go back, listen to the... Watch it again, listen to my examples,

read the examples aloud, write your own sentences about what's happening right now, where you

are. So, you could say, "While I'm watching this video, my brother is watching TV." Okay?

You could... So, you could say that. Or something like that. Or, "During this lecture, during

this lesson, my brother is watching TV." Okay? Or something like that. All right? Or, "During

this lesson, I'm taking notes. During this lesson, it's raining outside." Okay? All kinds

of examples. All right? So, by using these examples and your own examples, you will master

this and you won't make this mistake anymore. Okay? Sometimes it's the big things we want

to fix, but the way to get better at the bigger things is by improving all the smaller things

along the way.

So, what is your next step? Please go to our website at www.engvid.com. There, you can

do a quiz on this so you can really master it. You can also leave me a comment there

if you like, and I do answer many of the comments. And please subscribe to my YouTube channel

because I'd love to give you more and more lessons that will help you to learn English

much more quickly. All right? Take care. Bye for now, and all the best with your English.