A recent poll indicates that many people in the United State

[jlucero]

sorry, another problem,
regarding while clause, or we can call it ellipsis clause.

ellipsis clause should be placed next to the omitted subject. this point is ilustrated in the question 17 og 13 (take a pdf version of og13 and do searching). in this question choice c and d is wrong for that rule.
this rule is not absolute but is prefered if we have a chance to choose. that is why in this question, "while doing" at the end is acceptable but "although de-ed" at the end in choice c and d of question 17 og 13 are eliminated

pls, confirm my thinking . Thank you Manhantan experts.

Again, elliptical construction is not the issue here. In OG17, you have an issue of making things parallel (using a coordinating conjunction) vs describing an element (using a suboordinating conjuction).

[thanghnvn]

thank you Lucero, pls, explain more.

why C in question 17 og 13 is wrong? the reason is elipsis clause "although..." stands behind, not before, the main clause.we prefer the elippsis clause stands before the main clause. is that right?

pls explain the difference in meaning between

although never sighted at X, A is seen at B

A is seen at B but is never sighted at X.

both "but" and " although" show the contrast. "but" is coordinate conjuction. "although" is subordinate conjuction. So, "both" and "although" are different in there grammartical roles but they are the same in meaning. is that right?

[tim]

Joe already provided a thorough explanation of this. It is a parallelism issue. That's what you need to focus on here..

[info123talk]

Hi,

Checked the earlier response, which says- while + verb ing can be used.

My question is- shouldn't denounce & supporting be parallel to indicate the contrast? (this is to clarify parallelism & contrast used here instead of trying to dissect the correct answer).

A recent poll indicates that many people in the United States hold a combination of conservative and liberal political views' i.e., they denounce big government, saying government is doing too much and has become too powerful, while at the same time supporting many specific government programs for health care, education, and the environment.

Thank you-

[RonPurewal]

"While" does not require parallelism.

If you replace "while" with "but", then you need the kind of parallelism that you described.

[AbhilashM94]

I think this one's more of a function of proper sentence structure when combining complex parts of sentences into one long sentence.

Also, is "reviews" supposed to be "views?" "Reviews" doesn't make sense. [Edited by Stacey to delete a sentence I wrote that was completely wrong! :)]

B is wrong because the main sentence reads "they denounce big government but supporting at the same time." "But" is a coordinating conjunction, used to connect two independent clauses, but the second half of this sentence "supporting at the same time..." is not an independent clause (that is, it cannot function as a stand-alone sentence).

C is a run on: "they denounce, they say" Both of those - "they denounce big government" and "
they say that government is doing too much" - are independent clauses and need to be connected either via a coordinating conjunction or a semi-colon. See, for example "they say that government is doing too much and it has become too powerful" - those are two independent clauses connected by the coordinating conjuction "and."

D is wrong because the main sentence reads "they denounce big government at the same time supporting" - you need a contrast word such as "while" between government and at. Same reason for E.

Thanks for the brilliant explanation!

Are D & E even complete sentences?

[RonPurewal]

No, they aren't. Good observation.

[agarwal.disha]

Hi,

One quick question

I understand that 'while + sentence + main sentence 'is the correct usage.

However, in A (skipping the part before ;)
they denounce big government , (modifier) , while at the same time supporting.

the bit in blue is a sentence, but is the bit in red a sentence? if not then is my understanding of the usage of while structure incorrect?

Request you to please correct my understanding.

Thanks in advance!

[RonPurewal]

The red part is not a complete sentence.

"While" can come before an __ing modifier, too (as you now know from this example).

[CrystalSpringston]

The red part is not a complete sentence.

"While" can come before an __ing modifier, too (as you now know from this example).

HI Ron, "while" has 2 different usage: contrast(placed in the beginning of sentence) and concurrence (placed in the middle of sentence like this case).
So is the while+ING modifier applied to both of these?
Thank you

[RonPurewal]

i'm not sure i understand your question. can you please provide some examples?

thanks.

[CrystalSpringston]

i'm not sure i understand your question. can you please provide some examples?

thanks.

Can we say:
While eating nothing yesterday, he is having too much today.

[RonPurewal]

Can we say:
While eating nothing yesterday, he is having too much today.

this sentence doesn't work, because '__ing' adopts the same timeframe as the main sentence.
thus you're implying that "eating ... yesterday" is happening in the same timeframe as "he is having too much today". that doesn't make sense.

(also, a contrast transition isn't really logical here, anyway. if someone ate no food at all yesterday, then common sense dictates that (s)he will overeat today!)


--

in general:
when 'while' is used to indicate a contrast, the two contrasting things should be true simultaneously.
this is basically the entire point of 'while' as an indicator of contrast.

if you're talking about two things that are NOT simultaneous, then there are plenty of other transition words that you can use.
e.g.,
Although Dan ate nothing but vegetables yesterday, he is eating mostly meat today.
(not 'while', because these things are not in the same timeframe)

vs.
While Ron ate mostly meat and cheese, his wife ate mostly vegetables and pasta.
(...at the same meal)

[drn354]

[quote="RonPurewal"][quote="CrystalSpringston"]

in general:
when 'while' is used to indicate a contrast, the two contrasting things should be true simultaneously
this is basically the entire point of 'while' as an indicator of contrast.

hi instructors，
now that "while " means the two contrasting things happen simultaneously, why we still need "at the same time "? is this redundancy？

thanks in advance！

[RonPurewal]

in this sentence the primary function of "while" is to indicate contrast. thus "at the same time" serves to emphasize the simultaneity.