Why does he steal things when he could easily afford to buy them?
What does “when” in the sentence mean? Does it mean “in what situation”? Is “when he could easily afford to buy them” a time clause?
Asked
Active
Viewed 146 times
4
200_success
- 8,133
- 1
- 31
- 46
April
- 3,023
- 15
- 48
- 62
1 Answers
3
Not exactly. As snailboat says, it is the sense 3 as mentioned in ODO:
when - In view of the fact that; considering that
You may read it his way -- If he could easily afford to buy them, why does he steal things?
I think the use of when is quite closer to while in such context.
Why does he steal things while he could easily afford to buy them?
