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While and whilst are conjunctions whose primary meaning is "during the time that". An example is:
- The days were hot while we were on vacation.
- I read a magazine whilst I was waiting.
While and whilst can nowadays legitimately be used in the contrastive sense of although or whereas, provided that it is not ambiguous (although some commentators, such as Eric Partridge, have frowned upon such use):
- While Sally plays, Sue works.
This sentence can mean either "During the time that Sally plays, Sue works" or "Although Sally plays, Sue works".
Fowler's Modern English Usage disapproves of several uses of "while". At times it is inappropriately used as a conjunctive: actual conjunctions such as "and" should be used instead. Its usage as "elegant variation" is also discouraged, as it is masquerading as a "formal word".[1]
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While and whilst
In standard British English and Australian English, whilst is synonymous with while in meaning and usage. In American English and Canadian English, whilst can be considered pretentious or archaic.[2][3]
Some publications on both sides of the Atlantic disapprove of whilst in their style guides (along with "amidst" and "amongst"); for example:
- Times Online Style Guide: "while (not whilst)"[4]
- Guardian Style Guide: "while not whilst"[5]
- Hansard: the Canadian Parliament record: "while not whilst"[6]
The American Heritage Guide writes that "[w]hile using ['whilst'] runs the risk of sounding pretentious, it can sometimes add a literary or ironically formal note to a piece of writing."[7]
Notably, there are no style guides that explicitly recommend the usage of whilst over while in any circumstance whatsoever. The general consensus among scholars of English is that whilst is an unnecessary and archaic word whose primary usage is by Britons who prefer what they perceive as a more 'noble' word. Its etymology derives from the early English whiles and, simply put, while is the word that has replaced whilst in modern English[2], just as thee and thou were replaced by you.
Other meanings
In some Northern English while (but not whilst) usually takes the meaning of until, as in
- "I shall wait while you are ready."[citation needed]
- "We went for a walk, from ten while eleven" (we went for a walk, from ten o' clock, until eleven o' clock)
The use of whilst is common in such dialects, especially in situations in which while would be ambiguous.
See also
References
- ^ "while": Fowler's Modern English Usage, Second Edition, ed. Sir Ernest Gowers 1965 and 1983, and Pocket Fowler's Modern English Usage. Ed. Robert Allen. Oxford University Press, 1999
- ^ a b http://www.articlesbase.com/languages-articles/english-usage-whilst-or-while-795377.html
- ^ Strunk, W., and White, E.B. The Elements of Style. 4th ed. 2000. Allyn & Bacon, Boston. Pg. 63-64.
- ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2941-583,00.html
- ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/page/0,5817,184822,00.html
- ^ http://www.hansard.ca/styleguide.pdf
- ^ Houghton Mifflin Company (2005). The American Heritage guide to contemporary usage and style. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,. p. 503. ISBN 0618604995.
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