During or While in English: How to Choose and Fix Mistakes in Time Sentences

Read these two sentences aloud.

While the concert, my phone died.

During I was cooking, the doorbell rang.

Nobody would be confused by either one. You can picture the concert and you can hear the doorbell. Still, both sound broken, and they break in opposite directions. The first puts while in front of an event name. The second puts during in front of a whole clause. Learners at A2 swap these two words all the time, and the swap is easy to repair once you know where to look.

The lines in quotation marks below come from a podcast episode about during and while, where Paul and Emily start from a lost blue folder and Emily’s own slip: “While the break, I think.” Anything marked written for this page is an extra example that is not from the episode.

The first words after the blank decide

Do not start with the meaning. Start with the words that come right after the gap. Emily says it in one line: “So, during plus the event. While plus the action.” Paul turns it into a question you can ask yourself: “Ask, what comes next?”

What comes next	Which word fits	Example
A time, event or period	during	“During the break, I checked my phone.”
A subject plus a verb	while	“While I was checking my phone, the class started again.”

The episode’s own list of things that can follow during is short and ordinary: “During the class. During the meeting. During lunch. During the trip. During the break.” After while, the examples are clauses with a person and an action: “I was getting coffee.” “I was talking to Maya.”

Paul adds a limit that is worth keeping in your head: “This is not a rule for every possible sentence in English.” It is a reliable pattern for the sentences you need in daily talk, and the rest of this page uses it that way.

While the concert: an event name needs during

Take the first broken sentence again: While the concert, my phone died. After the blank comes the concert. That is an event name, with no verb and no subject doing something. So the repair is the one Emily gives in the episode for the same kind of error: “During the concert, my phone died.”

Emily explains why the wrong version feels incomplete: “The break is only the event name.” There is nothing for while to attach to. A few more sentences with the same slip, all written for this page:

• While the lesson, I took notes. → During the lesson, I took notes.
• I felt tired while the whole trip. → I felt tired during the whole trip.
• While my holiday, I read three books. → During my holiday, I read three books.

The episode has two more that sound just like these. “While dinner, we talked about the trip” becomes “During dinner, we talked about the trip.” And “I got a call while the meeting” becomes “I got a call during the meeting.” The pattern is identical each time: an event name follows, so use during.

During I was cooking: a whole clause needs while

The second broken sentence has the opposite problem. During I was cooking, the doorbell rang puts during in front of I was cooking, which is a subject plus a verb. Paul says it plainly: “In this pattern, after during, we do not put, I was getting coffee.” The repair uses the other word: “While I was cooking, the doorbell rang.”

The same repair rescues the doctor’s waiting room: “During I waited for the doctor, I read a magazine” becomes “While I was waiting for the doctor, I read a magazine.” Emily also offers a second route, “During the wait, I read a magazine,” and then makes a practical comment: “while I was waiting is more natural here.” That is a good habit to copy. When two repairs are both possible, choose the one that sounds like something a person would really say.

Written for this page:

• During I was walking to work, I heard a loud noise. → While I was walking to work, I heard a loud noise.
• My sister called during we were eating dinner. → My sister called while we were eating dinner. (or, more briefly, during dinner)

A quick test for the while side: can you put I, we, she or a name before the verb? If you can, you have a clause.

When both sentences are correct, choose the picture

Some pairs are not a mistake and a repair. They are two good sentences that show different pictures. Paul builds one from the meeting: “I got a call during the meeting.” Then he gives the other: “I got a call while we were discussing the budget.” The second one adds detail, and Paul is careful about why he calls it an upgrade: “Not because it is longer, but because it shows the action that was happening.”

So when do you choose which? Emily says it clearly: “So during the meeting is enough if the exact action does not matter.” If the listener only needs to know when, keep it short. If the listener needs to see what was going on, name the action.

The email example in the episode is the sharpest case. “During the meeting, I was answering an email” is, in Paul’s words, “grammatically fine.” But if the point is that a new message arrived at the exact moment you were answering another email, the better sentence is “While I was answering one email, another message arrived.” Paul’s explanation: “The grammar choice helps the listener see the overlap.”

There is a third kind of sentence that is not wrong but does not suit the situation. Paul tries “During my reading, a child dropped a toy” and Emily hears it as something that “sounds formal and unnatural for this ordinary story.” For a normal chat about a train journey, “while I was reading” is the clearer choice.

Do not stretch while when during lunch is enough

It is also possible to go too far in the other direction. A learner who has just discovered while may start building long clauses for every time idea. Paul’s warning: “Do not force a long while sentence when the event name is enough.” His example is exact. Instead of “While we were in the lunch period at work,” just say “During lunch.”

A learner’s version of this problem, written for this page: While I was in the time of my English class, I met a new friend. Clear, but heavy. During my English class, I met a new friend does the same job with half the words.

When is sometimes better, and while does not always need -ing

Two short notes keep you from taking the pattern too far.

First, the pattern with a verb after while often uses was or were plus an -ing verb in the episode, because “the contrast is easy to hear.” But Paul says clearly that it is not a law. When Emily asks whether while always needs the past continuous, his answer is “No, not always.” What stays true is smaller: “after while, we have a subject plus a verb.”

Second, while is a poor match for a very short event. In the cinema scene, Emily points out that “What were you doing while I sent the message?” can sound a little strange, “because sending the message is very short.” Paul’s repair uses a different word: “What were you doing when I sent the message?” and he adds, “In real English, when may fit short events better.” The episode does not teach when in depth. It only makes sure you do not leave thinking that “while is the only time connector.”

A short exchange at the bus stop

Written for this page. Two friends, Mia and Tom, are waiting for the same bus. Watch where during and while appear.

Tom: You look tired. What happened?

Mia: My phone died during the meeting.

Tom: Did you miss something important?

Mia: Yes. While I was presenting, my manager sent a note about a room change.

Tom: Did you see it later?

Mia: During the break I checked my phone, but the screen was black. While I was looking for a charger, the meeting started again.

Tom: So you stayed in the wrong room.

Mia: For the whole second half. Not my best day.

Look at the words after each connector. During the meeting and during the break are event names. While I was presenting and while I was looking for a charger each have a subject and a verb. Nothing in Mia’s story needed a repair, because she checked what came next before each connector.

Ten sentences to repair or choose

Say each answer aloud before you open the answers. All of this exercise set is written for this page.

Exercise 1. Repair the sentence.

1. While the film, I ate all the popcorn.
2. During I was waiting for the bus, it started to rain.
3. They arrived late during the evening class was starting.
4. I read two chapters while the train ride.
5. My phone rang during I was cooking dinner.
6. While my brother’s wedding, I lost my keys.

Exercise 2. Choose the better sentence for the meaning.

7. You want to say your friend called at some point at lunch. The exact action does not matter.
   • A. My friend called during lunch.
   • B. My friend called while we were in the lunch period.
8. You want the listener to see two actions at once: your neighbour knocked as you were washing dishes.
   • A. My neighbour knocked during the evening.
   • B. My neighbour knocked while I was washing the dishes.
9. You want to ask what someone was doing at the moment you sent a message. Which word fits better in a natural question: while or when?

Exercise 3. Say it about your own day.

10. Say one true sentence with during and one true sentence with while about yesterday.

Answers

1. During the film, I ate all the popcorn. (an event name follows)
2. While I was waiting for the bus, it started to rain. (a subject plus a verb follows)
3. They arrived late while the evening class was starting. (the clause the evening class was starting has a subject and a verb)
4. I read two chapters during the train ride. (an event name follows)
5. My phone rang while I was cooking dinner. (a clause follows)
6. During my brother’s wedding, I lost my keys. (an event name follows)
7. A. The exact action does not matter, so the short event name is enough. As Paul says, “keep it simple.”
8. B. You need the active scene, with a subject (I) and a verb (was washing), and that is what while introduces.
9. When usually fits better: What were you doing when I sent the message? Sending a message is a very short event.
10. Any true pair works. A model: During lunch, I got a call. While I was eating, my friend sent me a photo. That is the example from the episode’s final practice. If your first sentence comes out wrong, repair it out loud, just as Emily does: “While lunch, no, during lunch.”

Hear it in a real conversation

Want to hear the whole story of the blue folder, from Emily’s first wrong sentence to the cinema scene and the speaking challenge? Go to the Show Note for the episode: During or While? Describe What Happened at the Same Time. It follows the video chapter by chapter, with questions and answers for each one.

The whole check, in one box

• Look at the words right after the blank.
• A time, event or period: use during (during lunch, during the trip).
• A subject plus a verb: use while (while I was cooking).
• If both would be correct, ask what the listener needs: the whole period, or one action inside it.
• For a very short event, think about when.
• If your first sentence comes out wrong, repair it and keep talking. As Paul says, the goal is “to make the time relationship clear enough for the conversation to continue.”