Toby asked me to do a Grammar Thought on while/whilst. I’m struggling to find a definitive answer (art not science) on this but here are the views I have discovered in my (not very extensive) research.
‘Whilst’ is an adverbial genitive
I won’t go into genitives here, not least because I’m only just starting to understand what they are, so focus on the ‘adverbial’ bit of that term… ‘whilst’ describes/adds to verbs so only use ‘whilst’ when the next word is a verb. Otherwise it’s ‘while’:
Whilst speaking her hands trembled.
While she spoke her hands trembled.
I think this view appeals most to my logical mind. Yes, I do have a logical mind. The logic just gets tempered by some other stuff.
‘Whilst’ precedes a vowel; ‘while’ precedes a consonant
This view holds that ‘st’ is an excrescent suffix, simply added to aid the flow of a sentence. Just like we don’t say ‘a orange’ (we add an ‘n’) we’d add ‘st’ (and scrap the ‘e’) to while when saying, for example, ‘while abseiling I painted my nails’.
I’m not sure this view really works as the last sound in the word ‘while’ is a consonant therefore the flow is not disrupted: consonant ending + vowel beginning is not a problem for flow whereas vowel ending + vowel beginning is.
‘Whilst’ is British/archaic/formal/written; ‘while’ is the opposite
The sub-heading speaks for itself. I think it’s wrong though! Well, it’s certainly not true for me. I have, however, read that The Times and The Guardian’s style guides do specify that their writers should only use ‘while’ because 'whilst' is archaic.
‘Whilst’ is temporal; ‘while’ means ‘whereas’ (or vice versa!)
Apparently this is the rule for American legal language. This would mean that both of the examples under the first sub-heading should be ‘whilst’ because they both explain what’s happening at the same time (hence the term ‘temporal’) that something else is happening. ‘While’ would be used to draw attention to a contrast: ‘Karen’s the obvious choice as she is good at her job while Mike is not’. The only problem with this is that it’s not how most people distinguish between the two and you know the deal with language changing according to how it’s used…
So, I don’t know. Sorry. Perhaps just choose one of the options and stick with it so that at least you’re being consistent. Has anyone got a copy of Fowlers? What does that say?
7 comments:
Oh noes.
I lost my copy of Fowlers last week.
And plus, and also I had only got up to the Vs in Fowlers so I don't know what happened with the Ws.
Oh noes!
"Among" and "amongst" - both are used in "Peter Rabbit".
Does it follow the same rules as while whilst
Oh dear. Apparently this little puzzle is even worse; God knows what you should do for among/amongst and, lest we forget, amidst.
It is already too late on a Saturday night to be an internet geek so I will save my research for a later date and another post. Initial investigations, however, suggest that Fowlers and Websters say that there is no difference in usage between the three...I'm a bit sad about this. Also, the excrescent thang is coming up more on among/amongst messageboard threads but that's more understandable as the 'g' at the end of 'among' is softer than the 'l' sound at the end of 'while'.
thanks for the message el :) good to hear from you. its nice that the blog is read by a few people still.
Whilst transposing training text from Cunard Line to Princess Cruises uses, this while/whilst issue seems to be near and dear to the hearts of our vast British maritime personnel. However, since my training audience consists mostly of American travel agents, I just want to use "while" everywhere. But the red ink is flowing against this practice!
I'd settle for consistency based on reasonable rules. But the Brit officers & execs can't even agree on those.
Thanks for your blog - I've referred to it often and never said a peep. Words, like character, count.
JL
Well, thanks JL! I think you might have even inspired me to post!
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