Commonly Confused Words in English: DURING & WHILE

We say “During the lesson…” but “While I was studying…” Find out why in this English lesson.

Please leave a response below.

Take an English quiz based on this lesson!

Test your understanding of the English lesson by answering these questions. You will get the answers and your score at the end of the quiz.

Karen was very tired _____ the day, because she hadn't slept all night.



_____ the lesson, the teacher explained the Present Simple Tense.



We went to a restaurant and had dinner _____ it was raining.



_____ the cake was baking,  Diane washed the dishes.



I shouted so much _____ the concert, I have no voice left!



The children were very restless _____ the flight, but they're fast asleep now.



Every night,  Jason fell asleep _____ watching television.



Can you wait for me  _____ I finish shopping?



The Beatles first became popular _____ the 1960s.



Rita often listened to music _____ doing her homework.





48 Responses to “Commonly Confused Words in English: DURING & WHILE”

  1. Miriam Sena de Santana :

    I like this teacher, because her explaination is too much clear!!!!
    Thank you Rebecca

  2. letruong :

    Thank you very much for you lesson.
    I don’t understand why in sentence “Every night, Jason fall asleep ___watching television” the answer is while because I think in this case “watching television” is a noun.
    please! explain to me

    • Marcos :

      I will try to solve your doubt, I am not 100% sure, so If I am wrong sorry, but in that case, watching television -> “watching” is the act of to watch television, so it’s a verb. A noun is a Person, Place or Thing.Only television is the noun.

  3. Hector :

    Dear Rebecca,

    I would like that you write while you explain.

    Thanks a lot.

    Sincerely.
    Hector.

  4. dolly :

    i like you ma’am..,^_^

  5. alvaradoybarra :

    please ,write your solucion,thanks

  6. kate :

    I like the way your teach, it will help me to improve my English.Thank you~~^^

  7. Marcos :

    Very nice lesson, just a question,
    on the fourth quiz question , I put
    “During” the cake was baking, Diane washed the dishes.
    And on the score said that I was wrong, but Isn’t cake a noun?
    So why is that wrong? Maybe because it was the beggining of the sentence…

    Thanks

    • Bill :

      Dear Marco,

      I think I can help you out. And to Rebecca, thanks for making these videos.

      It really helps to know the parts of speech when trying to understand English. During is a preposition; that’s why nouns are usually following. While on the other hand is usually a conjunction. So what do you do if you find yourself unsure of which word to use? Plug in the definition and see if the sentence still makes sense. Here are some definitions (from Marriam Webster’s online dictionary:

      During – Prepostion – throughout the duration of

      While – Conjunction – during the time that

      Now to use your example

      During/While the cake was baking, Diane washed the dishes.

      So plug in the definitions and see which one makes better sense…

      1. Throughout the duration of the cake was baking, Diane washed the dishes.

      or

      2. During the time that the cake was baking, Diane washed the dishes.

      Which one makes more sense? To me, “duration of the cake,” seems a little odd but “during the time that the cake was baking,” while long, still makes sense. Since this is the definition of “while,” “while” would be the better word to use here.

      While not 100% foolproof, the technique can help you out most of the time.

      Bill Ralens


      • RebeccaESL :

        Thanks, Bill, for your detailed explanation.

  8. victonny :

    Good teacher . From Brazil

  9. Reynaldo :

    Rebecca,thanks a lot for your help.I think that your teaching is very good!

  10. nandin :

    Thanks for your lessons. I’m very grateful in this lesson. Now I know how I can say correct during and while. Thank you very much Rebecca.

  11. akram :

    great job! thanks

  12. aijaz khatti :

    this was great. I greatly enjoyed it.

  13. lian :

    sorry!!!!!
    but it was bad and very confused
    Lian

  14. Abdulkarim :

    Thank you.

  15. ktugran :

    thank u but ı want to watch your videos,Iam new here ı thınk ı couldnt find :(please help me


  16. RebeccaESL :

    Thanks to everyone for your feedback. Glad I could help most of you.

  17. justice :

    you lesson is easy to undetstand, but it is better if you write more; I aprriciate your effort. thanhks so much

  18. aldammak :

    Thank you


  19. RebeccaESL :

    Thanks to all for your feedback.

  20. rema22 :

    hi Rebeccaesl, thank you very much .your video is short ,but it is very interesting.

  21. Dino17 :

    Thank you, Rebecca. Very easy to understand for me. Test 100%!

  22. kshrikant2001 :

    Thank you, Rebecca.

  23. roshanak :

    thank you,it was simple and great.

  24. Maslax :

    Thank you so much, it’s realy great watching and listening your video lessons.

  25. durvika123 :

    helo Rebecca
    Thank you so much, your way of teaching is very nice like you, may i have your skyype address, i would like to learn english like u speak , thanks you very much.
    Durvila

  26. Gabriel :

    Hi Rebecca,

    thank you for your effort on teaching English (and to the rest of the team as well)! It helps me a lot to kind of proceed my knowledge about the English language. One question about this video is remaining: I’ve heard about ‘whilst’ in some cases. So how can I use this in a proper way?


    • RebeccaESL :

      “Whilst” is not used very often anymore, but in essence it is used in the same way as the word “while”.

      He knocked on the door whilst I was cooking.

      Whilst cleaning, look out for my keys. I can’t find them.

      My best wishes to you.

  27. Khan :

    Mam, you teach very comprehensively. I have little confusion in using of could have and would have. Could you please guide me. Regards

  28. Suka :

    Hi Rebecca,

    Congratulations for your video-class. The best. Please, could you
    write during your explanation?
    Thank you very much.

  29. mobi :

    mam your way of teaching is very sweet.Thanks


  30. RebeccaESL :

    Thanks to all for you feedback.

  31. silvia :

    Hello,
    I thought I will not understand but I have got 100 in quiz.
    It made me very happy. Thank you for excelent explanations.
    I am your personal fan, please stay with your students.
    Silvia Czech Rep.

  32. Faizullah Faizan :

    Hi RebeccaESL,

    I am so glad from you an from your related teems. you all great teachers for me and for all those watch your lessons.
    I wish good chance for you and form your friends.

    Thanks so much,

    Faizullah Faizan
    Kabul Afghanistan
    (L)

  33. younes from morocco :

    thanks a lot first i have on quation is while is look like same meaning of when is i m right on no thanks again

  34. Hardeep Singh :

    Mam thank you very much for your help. I have watched your videos on you tube.

  35. joshua joseph :

    i like the way you teaching………………………………………… while i listened to you………… i have nothing to say……………

  36. Mostafiz :

    Excellent! Great! You remove all my confusions in these case. Thanks a lot. Please keep on these efforts for the sake of large community of students who likes a teacher like you.

  37. noureen khurshedi :

    hi, thank you for your all help.best wishes for you.

  38. tonyd :

    Thanks Rebecca

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