"Although" Versus "While"

Today's topic is “although” versus “while.”

I often have to tell people that their pet peeves aren't actually hard-and-fast grammar rules. I have to tell people that it's OK to split infinitives, and that in some cases it's fine to end a sentence with a preposition or use the word “between” when they're choosing among more than two items.

I know it's upsetting to learn that your nearest and dearest beliefs are wrong, so this week, I'm going to talk about my own mistaken peeve. It bugs me no end when people use “while” to mean “although” or “whereas,” but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't convince myself that I am right.

'Although': A Concessive Conjunction

You see, I think “although”means “in spite of the fact that,” as in “Although Sir Fragalot is tall, Squiggly and Aardvark consider him an equal.” “Although” is what's called a concessive conjunction, meaning that it is used to express a concession.

'While': A Sense of Time

On the other hand, I believe “while” should be reserved to mean “at the same time.” It should have a temporal sense, as in “While Squiggly gathered wood, Aardvark hid the maracas.”

At first I was sure I was right because in his book Usage and Abusage, Eric Partridge said that “'while' for ‘although’ is a perverted use of the correct sense of ‘while,’ which properly means 'at the same time.'”

'While' Meaning 'Although'

Ha! But, then I discovered that Fowler's Modern English Usage says it is normal and acceptable to use “while” to mean "although."(2) Fowler even called Partridge's comment “indefensible.” It's a grammar rumble, people!

Next, I checked the Oxford English Dictionary, and it backs up Fowler with an entry saying “while”can mean “although.” Two additional dictionaries concurred. Further, Bryan Garner says the non-temporal use of “while” (in other words, “while” to mean “although” or “whereas”) ranks at stage 5 on his language-change index (3) — stage 5, which he defines as “universally...

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