during vs. while

Explanation （説明）

These are easy to confuse, as they are close in meaning. Generally speaking, the difference is as follows:

during

During is used to say that something happened while some event was taking place. This is used with a noun or a gerund.　

The president of the company slept during the meeting.

During the summer Aki likes to play as much tennis as possible.

Noriko asked a million questions during the interview.

I heard someone speaking during the concert.

while

While means "at the same time." This is used with a verb.

I like to eat something while I read the newspaper.

While walking to school, Maki noticed a new restaurant serving her favorite kind of food.

Jim often eats popcorn while watching TV.

I read a magazine while I waited for a friend.

　

You can use either during or while if you reword your sentence.

Yumiko fell asleep during the lecture. (noun)

Yumiko fell asleep while listening to the lecture. (verb)

Exercises（練習）

Use either during or while in each of the following sentences.

1. During While the class, Yukiko showed more enthusiasm than any other student.

2. What did you do during while you waited for the bus?

3. Have you ever fallen asleep during while your English lesson?

4. What do you like to do during while eating dinner?　

5. I often read the newspaper during while eating breakfast.

6. Barry didn't take any notes during while the lecture; he just sat there and drew pictures in his notebook.

7. What did you and your friends talk about during while dinner last night?

8. I kept hearing strange sounds outside my window during while the night.

9. Here are your phone messages. Quite a few people called during while you were away.

10. During While you were napping someone dropped off this package for you.

　

　

　

Answers:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.