Mr.Maru: How do you study English Sparky?

Sparky: I study when you are working.

Mr.Maru: Really? I thought you just slept all day.

Sparky: No, I like to study a lot.

Mr.Maru: You didn't used to study.

Sparky: Yeah, while I was three, I didn't study at all.

Mr.Maru: When you were three, you used to chase your tail. You ran around in circles.

Sparky: Those were good times.

How do you use as, when, and while? These words can be used in many different situations, but they have some important rules you need to know. Let's look at some examples.

When to use 'while', 'when' and 'as'

We can use all of these words to talk about a background activity. For example,

While the music was playing, they walked around the chairs.
The phone rang, when he was reading the book.
As I was leaving, I saw the mail person delivering the mail.

We usually use the progressive or continuous (be + ~ing) tense for 'when', 'while', and 'as', but we can also use the simple tense for 'as' and 'while'. For example,

As I sat on the bench, I thought about my life.
While I ate my lunch, they were doing my dry cleaning.

Be careful! If we use 'when' with a simple tense, it means at that moment.

When I opened the door, the cat jumped out.

While vs. When

These two words can usually be used in the same place. However, there are some times when they can not be used in the same place. When we talk about time periods we usually use 'when'. For example,

When I was three, my family moved to Texas. (NOT while I was three,...)
When I was in college, I drank a lot. (NOT while I was in college,...)

In general, the word 'when' is used for shorter time periods, but 'while' is used for longer continuous time periods. For example,

When I was eating lunch, I saw a band playing in the park. (It seems like I saw the band and did some other things too)
While I was eating lunch, I saw a band playing in the park. (I just saw the band the whole time. I didn't do anything else.)

Do you think you understand? Let's take a short quiz.

While vs. When quiz

1) ______ I ran to the store, my wife washed the windows.

A) While

B) When

C) As

2) _____ I was living in Chicago, there was a big blizzard.

A) While

B) When

C) As

3) _____ I fell down, I heard a snap.

A) While

B) When

C) As

Answers

1) A) or C) – These two are the most natural.

2) B) – We usually use 'when' to talk about periods of time.

3) B) – We use 'when' because the snap happened at about the same time as I fell down.

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