He was hunting deer when he found a bottle.

[BAUD]

Hi, there.

Could you tell me the difference between the two sentences:

He was hunting deer when he found the letter.

and

When he was hunting deer he found the letter.

Thank you in advance.

[Casiopea]

Welcome, BAUD.


The adverbial phrase (underlined) is topic in [2]:

[1] He was hunting deer when he found the letter.
[2] When he was hunting deer, he found the letter.


Does that help?

[BAUD]

Thank you, Casiopea, for your quick reply.

Actually, I need a little more help. Do you use 'topic' to mean 'theme' in contrast to 'rheme'?

Could you explain it more easily, if possible, with some examples?

[Casiopea]

You're welcome.

Try here first, TKI - Fat Tax: Task 12: Theme and Rheme [ESOL Online]

[BAUD]

Thanks again, Casiopea. I've read the article. And I think I figured out the functional sentence perspective.

Now let me ask you the same question, this time, from a grammatical point of view.

The first sentence I quoted above seems to mean that 'He was hunting deer and then he found the letter.'

I suspect if you use when like this you should put a comma before when:

He was hunting deer, when he found the letter.

Is it possible to use when without following a comma? Or is it used only in a certain situation such as only in a colloquial saying or only used with progressive?

A little more help again.