What is the difference between whilst and while

Maybe or may be? Maybe or perhaps? Nearest or next? Never or not … ever? Nice or sympathetic? No doubt or without doubt? No or not? Nowadays , these days or today? Open or opened? Opportunity or possibility? Opposite or in front of? Other , others , the other or another? Out or out of? Permit or permission? Person , persons or people? Pick or pick up? Play or game? Politics , political , politician or policy?

Price or prize? Principal or principle? Quiet or quite? Raise or rise? Remember or remind? Right or rightly? Rob or steal?

Say or tell? So that or in order that? Sometimes or sometime? Sound or noise? Speak or talk? Such or so? Towards or toward? Wait or wait for? Wake , wake up or awaken? Worth or worthwhile? Noun phrases: dependent words Noun phrases: order Noun phrases: uses Noun phrases: noun phrases and verbs Noun phrases: two noun phrases together. Pronouns: possessive my , mine , your , yours , etc.

Pronouns: reflexive myself , themselves , etc. Pronouns: indefinite - body , - one , - thing , - where Pronouns: one , you , we , they Relative pronouns Questions: interrogative pronouns what , who Someone , somebody , something , somewhere That. Dates Measurements Number Time. Geographical places Names and titles: addressing people Nationalities, languages, countries and regions Place names.

Reported speech Reported speech: direct speech Reported speech: indirect speech. British and American English Dialect Double negatives and usage Formal and informal language Newspaper headlines Register Slang Standard and non-standard language Swearing and taboo expressions. Past simple I worked Past continuous I was working Past continuous or past simple? Past simple or present perfect?

Used to Past perfect simple I had worked Past perfect continuous I had been working Past perfect simple or past perfect continuous? Past perfect simple or past simple? Past verb forms referring to the present Past: typical errors. Present continuous I am working Present perfect continuous I have been working Present perfect simple I have worked Present perfect simple or present perfect continuous? Present perfect: typical errors Present simple I work Present simple or present continuous? Present: typical errors Present verb forms referring to the past.

Finite and non-finite verbs Imperative clauses Be quiet! Infinitives with and without to Infinitive: active or passive? Perfect infinitive with to to have worked Verbs: basic forms Verbs: formation. Hate , like , love and prefer Hear , see , etc. Get passive Have something done Passive: forms Passives with and without an agent Passive: uses Passive: other forms Passive: typical errors.

Conditionals Conditionals: if Conditionals: other expressions unless, should, as long as Conditionals: typical errors If only In case of Suppose , supposing and what if Wish.

Word classes and phrase classes Word formation Prefixes Suffixes Compounds Abbreviations, initials and acronyms -ish and -y Diminutives - let , - y and mini- Hyphens. Word order and focus Word order: structures Cleft sentences It was in June we got married.

Fronting Inversion No sooner Not only … but also. Relative clauses Relative clauses referring to a whole sentence Relative clauses: defining and non-defining Relative clauses: typical errors. Neither, neither … nor and not … either Not. Questions: alternative questions Is it black or grey? Questions: two-step questions Questions: typical errors Questions: wh- questions Questions: yes-no questions Are you feeling cold? Questions: follow-up questions Questions: echo and checking questions Questions: short forms.

It is mostly used as a conjunction though there is the use of while as a noun too. As a conjunction, the primary purpose of while is to join two separate clauses in a sentence. Take a look at the following examples. However, while is also used as a noun as when it describes a period of time.

Take a look at the following example. We were there together for a while. Here, while refers to a time period in seconds or minutes. In most other cases, while is used as a conjunction. Personally, I've noted that the use of 'whilst' correlates directly and exclusively with being British. However, my own bias has always been to generally use "while" for activities happening in parallel. I'm prepared to accept that any distinction is subtle at best-though I'd like to know what is generally accepted.

Above all, if there is a genuine distinction, let's have it out, and not let good words go to waste or be corrupted. I await with trepidation the first dictionary to list "principal" and "principle" as synonyms, likewise "dependant" and dependent", etc. My car will continue to have tyres and I will not tire of driving it, darn you! Use 'while' if the next word begins with a consonant. If followed by a word beginning with a vowel, then the 'st' form gives a more euphonious transition: compare 'while I was' to 'whilst I was'.

To my ear, it ends up as the choice between between sounding like Adele all glo'al stops or Sue Lawley word endings horribly audible. I had said it to him as he was near my desk and I wanted to ask a question: "Whilst you are over here If he had already been speaking to me I think I would have said "while".

I can't explain that in technical language. But if feels right. I can't see how that's pretentious. I certainly wouldn't have been showing off the use of my language to an American. Kath, Bath UK Having trawled through a number of forums without finding a definitive answer, it seems to me that one explanation offered that is most plausible is the idea that whilst should be used in close association with a verb.

It is always from the colonials as we were once known that the finest understanding and usage of the English language may be had. Indian and Irish writers are proof of this. Also those Europeans for whom like us English was a second language, i.

Joseph Conrad. Biddy, Galway Ireland Typing this while drinking my tea. Whilst there may be a debate, the answer is simple: Mike West is right. Paul Campbell, Twickenham England "Whilst" has always struck me as a fancyfied form of "while" and one that allows excessive opportunity for spelling error.

And Mike West needs to curb his ire otherwise he might find his tyres hitting the kerb. Brian Smith, Radlett UK I have been reading for a whilst, the reasons you educated blokes give to explain the difference "While" and "Whilst" whilst my tea got coldER See you later Alligater In a while Crocodile Ronald Becker, Nottingham but Londoner UK When I was trying to search to similarity in German Forgive me, but it is the only Germanic language that I know , I found that "-s" endings are often found in adverbs from nouns, eg in the pair of 'Eben' noun: night and 'ebens' adv: at night.

I believe the "-st" ending in English has the same effect - making nouns into adverbs. In this case, "while" was believably a noun itself, and "whilst" was the related adverb, at least it was. As for use of "while" as an adverb, I believe that it was the descendant of "whilst", having the "-st" ending dropped, as well as the "-st" dropping in the 2nd person singular verbs and the "-th" shift to "-s" in the 3rd person singular verbs.

This looks like a good explanation to me, but if I am wrong, I beg you right it. Ps, I personally use "while" most of the time, but I often use "whilst" to make things look formal and serious.