Awhile versus A While
Sometimes even the single spacing can create a huge difference with respect to the meaning of the content. As these errors are very minor they often not get caught and end up creating grammatically wrong sentences. In this article we are going to deal with such two terms only namely awhile and a while.
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In this article we are going to see meanings of the term described above and also we are going to use them in sentence making for better understanding.
Use of the term awhile and a while in sentence making
Awhile |
A while |
Awhile as an adverb |
A while as a noun phrase |
Term refers to “for a while” or “for a short time.” It refers to a limited duration or period
Use in sentences Sam asked if he could borrow my book, promising to return it in awhile.
The professor paused awhile to answer questions asked by Sam.
Sam and the hikers rested awhile at the summit to admire the breathtaking view.
Sam listened to music awhile to unwind after a busy day.
Sam, let’s wait awhile to see if the traffic clears up before heading out. |
Term refers to an indefinite period of time. It is often used to denote a length of time that is not specified precisely or is not known
Use in sentences The repair might take a while, so Sam you might want to grab a coffee nearby.
After searching for her keys for a while, Sam finally found them in his bag.
Sam, I’ll be away for a while, but I’ll be back in the evening.
Sam, working on this project will take a while, so be patient.
They lived in the Sam city for a while before moving to the suburbs. |
Important note
As in the above segment of the article we have seen the meaning of both the words and created sentences using both the terms. We can say that indeed there is a difference in the terms and they can’t be used interchangeably. In order to remember the difference we can use a simple trick that is
Try to remember the term awhile is a single term and it is used to denote short duration of time so “s” for single, “s” for short duration of time and phrase a while denotes period of time without denoting its duration.
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After knowing the meaning, framed the sentences and acknowledging difference between both the terms let’s now proceed to correct pronunciation of both the terms.
Awhile is pronounced as uh-wile
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A while is pronounced as uh while
Summary
As to quickly summarize what we have learnt in this article first we learned the meaning of both terms that awhile and a while both denotes waiting for some duration only difference is that awhile is for duration and a while is for non specific duration. We also framed sentences using both the terms, learnt a simple trick to remember the difference between both the terms and at last we learned about correct pronunciation of both the terms
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