While or whilst

John Dixon, independent medical writer and trainer in scientific writing skills, provides a useful tip for medical writers who work in MedComms.

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Note these "bites" are recorded online using the zoom.us platform and hence quality may be affected by variability in internet connectivity and quality of webcams. The tips, however, are always first class!

Recorded 17 July 2019. Produced by NetworkPharma.tv

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Transcript

Hi, I’m John Dixon, a trainer in scientific writing, and here’s a bite that I hope may help you with your writing.

Should you use ‘while’ or ‘whilst’? [NEXT SLIDE]

When while or whilst are used as conjunctions in British English:

* while is mainly used in a temporal context to mean ‘during the time that’ or ‘at the same time as’, but it’s also used to mean ‘although’
* some consider that whilst is better used to indicate concession – in other words, to mean ‘although’ – and not to be used in a temporal context like while [NEXT]

For example:

While they receive blood transfusions, patients are carefully monitored. Here ‘while’ is used to mean ‘during the time that’
But in the next sentence, you may use whilst … or … while :
Whilst fully cross-matched blood is preferable for transfusion, O negative blood can be used in emergencies. [NEXT SLIDE]

A couple of other points…

* In US English, whilst isn’t usually used
* Opinion does vary, and some consider that, as conjunctions, while and whilst are fully interchangeable
* However, while (but not whilst) is also used as a noun and … as a verb [NEXT]

So, as a noun … He was advised to lay flat for a while after fainting.
And as a verb … After work, I while away some time listening to music.

If you’re uncertain which to use, ‘while’ sounds less pretentious; it’s certainly is better used in US English [NEXT]

Well, I hope that’s helpful. For more bites, visit NetworkPharma.tv

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