"while I am dancing" vs "while I dance"

Question

Which are more frequently used?

1A - I will be discussing the details while you are researching the data.

1B - I will be discussing the details while you research the data.

and

2A - I was cleaning the garage while you were preparing a snack.

2B - I was cleaning the garage while you prepared a snack.

Is there any wrong?

No - they are all syntactically correct. In 1A you are talking while he is researching, in 1B you are splitting the tasks between you — mplungjan, Sep 19 '13 at 12:59
As far as my grammatical knowledge goes, they are both correct :) — user51300, Sep 20 '13 at 04:51

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 26 '13 at 18:31

On their own:

"I dance" (simple present tense) suggests dancing is an action you regularly perform. The dancing occurs in the present but the specific time is not clear.
"I am dancing" (present continuous tense) suggests you are dancing right now.

However, you have the phrase following a while conjunction, which says that the adverbial/second clause is happening at the same time as your main clause. That takes precedence over the time implied by your adverbial clause.

Main clause: "I will be discussing the details" << This says the action will happen in the future.
Conjunction: "while" << This says that the next clause happens simultaneously with the first clause.
Adverbial clause: "you research the data." or "you are researching the data." << This clause is happening at the same time as 1, regardless of the specific time suggested by the tense.

Both are correct and commonly used.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 27 '13 at 18:03

1

both mean "While I continue to dance" so either would work. All four of your examples are correct. I doubt anyone would know which one is used more frequently.

answered Sep 27 '13 at 18:03

Anne

19

"while I am dancing" vs "while I dance"

2 Answers2