Sunday, December 7, 2008

To write better English: For , while , during -- how and when to use?

To represent time , we generally used 3 common prepositions in English viz., for - while - during.

For - The preposition "for" is used to express how long something or someone is doing something.
"For" is used to state a period of time and is used with a noun/pronoun (or any other form of nouns) .

e.g.
I have been driving my car for 3 hours.
The lady has been shouting for a long time.
The traffic has been bad for the last three days.

While - The preposition "while" is used to represent the length of time an action has been happening. "While" is used when speaking about 2 actions that are happing at the same time. The length of the action is not important.
"While" is used with a subject and a verb.

e.g.
While I was playing with my cat, my brother was doing her homework.
While we are playing cards, the music was playing.
My mother doesn't like the T. V. on while we are eating dinner.


During -The preposition "during" is used to represent the length of time of an action that is while the action is happening.
"During" is used with a noun/pronoun (or any other form of nouns) .

e.g.
I will be really busy during the week.
The girls were talking during the party.
The streetlights went out during the hurricane.

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