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This question prompted me to consider the difference between 'while' and 'whilst'. I have already scanned the previous questions (here and here ) about this but there is still something not reported (I think).

I can say :

He phoned me every day while he was in prison.

Or I can then say :

He phoned me every day while in prison.

But I find that I am more satisfied with :

He phoned me every day whilst in prison.

Is there an invisible verb within 'whilst' ?

Nigel J
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  • What do you mean by invisible verb? In the sense that the verb “to be” is omitted? – user 66974 Feb 07 '18 at 19:22
  • "While" and "whilst" are both prepositions and generally interchangeable. To answer your question. "while/whilst in prison" is a reduced clause where the subject and verb are omitted. In full it would be "While/whilst he was in prison ..." – BillJ Feb 07 '18 at 20:45
  • So why do you call these subordinating conjunctions prepositions? – AmI Feb 07 '18 at 22:24
  • @NigelJ Modern grammar takes "while" and "whilst" to be prepositions. The golden rule is never use dictionaries for matters of grammar. Have you never studied modern grammar? This dictionary gets it right, though, See here: link – BillJ Feb 08 '18 at 09:01
  • @NigelJ Well, read the scholarly grammars, and learn. – BillJ Feb 08 '18 at 09:02

1 Answers1

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It's not a verb hiding beneath the -st ending, but a adverbial genitive s with a periphrastic t glued on for ease of pronunciation, both added to while. The same is the case for amongst, amidst, midst, and also against.

Without the unetymological t, the genitive adverbial ending shows up in towards, backwards, etc., always, and "I work nights and sleep days."

If you find whilst more satisfying, it may merely signal that you're British, since the -st forms above are virtually unheard of in the US, except for against, for which there is no alternative.

KarlG
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  • I see, the OP didn’t check etymonline.. – user 66974 Feb 07 '18 at 19:39
  • @KarlG I think you are right about being British and vaguely imagining that the -st is somehow compensating for lack of verbal support in the sentence. Up-voted and accepted. Thank you. – Nigel J Feb 07 '18 at 19:43
  • I don’t think ‘ease of pronunciation’ ever had anything to do with the extra -t. As Etymonline mentions, it was likely taken over from superlatives, and presumably not because superlatives were easier to pronounce. Even outside English, it’s not unheard of for relational prepositions and adverbs like these to be influenced by superlatives—there’s some kind of semantic overlap going on. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Feb 07 '18 at 20:48
  • Some BrE editors, not me, routinely replace whilst with while. There is a view that it is an unnecessary word. – JeremyC Feb 07 '18 at 22:21