While——grammar 20090511

The Rule: "While" can be used to mean "during the time that," and it can be used to mean "whereas."
In the former case, while is not preceded by a comma.
In the latter case, while must be preceded by a comma.

So: I can't study while my little brother is beating on his drum.
And: The Blue Ridge mountains are beautiful, while the Rockies are grand.

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Mike发表于 2009-5-12 03:13 | 只看该作者

While "while" used in the sense of "whereas" is preceded by a comma when introducing a clause situated later in a sentence, it can also be used to introduce an entire sentence, in which case it obviously should not be preceded by a comma. The preceding sentence was constructed as an example of this usage.

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Philosopher发表于 2009-5-13 10:11 | 只看该作者

本帖最后由 Philosopher 于 2009-5-13 10:46 编辑

Mike, thanks for pointing out.

The example "The Blue Ridge mountains are beautiful, while the Rockies are grand."(1)

can also be written:

"While the Rockies are grand, the Blue Ridge mountains are beautiful."(2)

In (1), "while" acts as a Coordinating Conjunction (and, but, yet...).
In (2), "while" acts as a Dependent Marker Word (although, since, when...)
In both cases, "while" is used to contrast 2 things.

katie has missed the title "... a comma makes it mean...".

I guess the title would cause less confusion if we put it " ... a comma makes it into a coordinating conjuction ...". A coordinating conjunction is always preceded by a comma.

Even the word "whereas" is not preceded by a comma when it is not used as a coordinating conjuction.

Example: Whereas the peoples of the colonies have been grieved and burdened with taxes... (It being the fact that...)

$
Know thyself -- Socrates
$

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