Is it correct ?

By Deep_Level_Shark
in General Discussion

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

+Nik Louch Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted
They have the exact same usage.
The -st doesn't add anything to the context

100% wrong!

Whilst is used to describe verbs in their current form: Whilst working, Nik likes to drink water. That is 100% correct.

While is to be used in future/past versions: While Nik was working, he prefered to drink water. That is 100% correct.

Basically, the difference is tense. I will not say that the use of Whilst has been demoted and people use While - but it is technically incorrect, and arguing that they are the same is wrong.

Grand Master

threetonesun

Posted
Posted

100% wrong!

Whilst is used to describe verbs in their current form: Whilst working, Nik likes to drink water. That is 100% correct.

While is to be used in future/past versions: While Nik was working, he prefered to drink water. That is 100% correct.

Basically, the difference is tense. I will not say that the use of Whilst has been demoted and people use While - but it is technically incorrect, and arguing that they are the same is wrong.

No. "Nik likes to drink water while working."

There is nothing wrong with that sentence, and numerous style guides agree with me. Don't confuse people with these nonsense grammatical rules.

Grand Master

+Nik Louch Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

Nik likes to drink water while working

Is a completely different way of writing the phrase, placing the onus elsewhere. And I agree, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. That does not mean that it is the ONLY correct way of writing the sentence. Your style guides may 100% agree with what you just wrote, but other ways exist.

One such other way is to put the onus on the drinking verb, and in the present tense, WHILST should be used.

Do not write off correct English as "nonsense".

Grand Master

threetonesun

Posted
Posted

"While working, Nik likes to drink water." is the same as "Nik likes to drink water while working." is the same as "Whilst working, Nik likes to drink water" is the same as "Nik likes to drink water whilst working."

If you want it the other way around, you say "Nik likes to work while drinking water".

Find me one dictionary or reference book that states that whilst is used differently than while and I'll believe you.

Grand Master

+Nik Louch Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

"While working, Nik likes to drink water."

Is technically wrong. The correct word to have used there is Whilst. But it's use has declined and While seems to have become more commonly used. That makes it "accepted" but doesn't make it "correct English".

A dictionary will not suggest this difference, as their definitions do not go deep enough into word usage. Moreover, ROFL is in the OED, and I respect it less as each day goes past. Also, I don't really care what you believe - I will simply continue to state the case that While and Whilst are NOT the same, as you seem intent on stating (without credit).

Grand Master

Anibal P

Posted
Posted

Define: whilst

If you don't trust the OED, pick any dictionary you like.

Also, the Guardian and Observer disagree with you. Whole world must be going mad.

He's just trying to preserver the "purity" of The Queen's English" failing to realize that generally speaking even in the UK no one really speaks it anymore

Grand Master

+Nik Louch Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

You do understand that a style guide is a set of recommendations for writers to use? It is not a rule on what a word means?

Such as when I worked in a newspaper their style guide outlined the word "Ethnic" as a negative term to not be used. It is in no way valid as a definition.

They are preference and opinion based. There are plenty of online opinions I can find that could arguably substantiate the tense argument I make.

While both words are interchangable and correct, the -st ending is primiarly used to distiguish action taking place in the present
'Whilst' is an adverbial genitive. This means it is used to describe verbs.
whilst is less frequent than while. [...] the former is used more in a non-temporal way

etc

Again, I will state, I care little for whether you believe me or not. I simply will not leave a claim of the two words unchallenged.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • Apple Maps

      By goretsky · Posted

      Hello, It would appear so, according to https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-to-hide-your-home-on-google-maps-apple-maps-204146687.html. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky      
    • AMD 9070XT

      By goretsky · Posted

      Hello, The Nvidia Founders Edition 3080 video card is approximately six years old, correct? Have you looked into whether replacement fans are available for it? Perhaps replacing those will improve cooling, especially when combined with cleaning the card's heatsink and replacing the thermal interface materials. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky  
    • DuRoBo Krono Review: Portable E-Ink reader with great ideas that need a bit of improvement

      By goretsky · Posted

      Hello, While ~104 GB of space may seem generous (at least compared to other e-readers which have 8-32GB), I feel at this price point the device should have a Micro SDXC card slot for expansion, particularly if it allows audio books to be installed and played. I hope to see more reviews of 6" phone-sized e-readers on Neowin in the future. It will be interesting to see how they compare. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky
    • Sandboxie Plus 1.17.8 / Classic 5.72.8

      By Copernic · Posted

      Sandboxie Plus 1.17.8 / Classic 5.72.8 by Razvan Serea Run programs in a sandbox to prevent malware from making permanent changes to your PC. Sandboxie allows you to run your browser, or any other program, so that all changes that result from the usage are kept in a sandbox environment, which can then be deleted later. Sandboxie is a sandbox-based isolation software for 32- and 64-bit Windows NT-based operating systems. It is being developed by David Xanatos since it became open source, before that it was developed by Sophos (which acquired it from Invincea, which acquired it earlier from the original author Ronen Tzur). It creates a sandbox-like isolated operating environment in which applications can be run or installed without permanently modifying the local or mapped drive. An isolated virtual environment allows controlled testing of untrusted programs and web surfing. Sandboxie is available in two flavors Plus and Classic. Both have the same core components, this means they have the same level of security and compatibility. What's different is the user interface the Plus build has a modern Qt based UI which supports all new features that have been added since the project went open source. The Classic build has the old no longer developed MFC based UI, hence it lacks support for modern features, these features can however still be used when manually configured in the Sandboxie.ini. Sandboxie Plus 1.17.8 / Classic 5.72.8 release notes: Added added DisableCustomTitleOpt=[process,][y|n] to allow [#] sandboxie title markers on custom-titlebar windows (Delphi VCL, Qt, Electron) that were previously skipped to prevent DWM repaint CPU loops #5387 Changed updated bundled ImDisk driver to 3.0.2 #5419 Fixed fix Suppress logs for expected non-user SIDs #5422 SbieSvc.exe: SBIE2218/2219 error when run program as administrator #5417 fixed explorer.exe crashes in Application Compartment when Huorong Security is installed #5423 Download: Sandboxie Plus (64-bit) | 23.5 MB (Open Source) Download: Sandboxie Classic (64-bit) | 3.0 MB Links: Sandboxie Website | GitHub | ARM64 | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • what other retro software do yall use

      By goretsky · Posted

      Hello, Christian Maas' XVI32 is a nice (and very small) hex editor. Speaking of hex editors, many years ago a colleague and I who both worked at Tribal Voice managed to edit a copy of the company's PowWow instant messaging client to make it behave better now that all of its lookup servers and other server-side tech was gone.  The program didn't support NAT (RFC-3022 was introduced in January 2001, the same time Tribal Voice was shuttered), but it still worked okay if you manually set up port-forwarding on your router.  The server at http://powwow.jazy.net/ hosts a copy (usual warnings about downloading and running untrusted code from random internet servers apply). I occasionally use some tools like Funduc Software's Search and Replace and Application Mover when I need to make mass-edits to text-based files or move programs with a hard-coded installation directories, respectively.  When I need to figure out the exact LCD panel inside of a laptop, EnTech Taiwan's Monitor Asset Manager is my go-to tool for that purpose. JD Design's website (now hosted on github.io) has a number of interesting freeware and shareware utilities.  I used to use their TouchPro utility to set the file timestamps on software I was mastering to match its version number (e.g., version 3.00 of a program had all of its files dates set to 3:00AM, and so forth). Karenware has a number of interesting freeware utilities, too. Regards, Aryeh Goretsky  

  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Jeroen Wilms earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      rolfus earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Leroy Jethro Gibbs earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Conversation Starter
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • One Month Later
      AndreaB earned a badge
      One Month Later

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      509
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      198
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      138
    4. 4
      ATLien_0
      90
    5. 5
      Steven P.
      82
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!