[Grammar] Jim cut himself while/when he was shaving.

[beachboy]

1 - Jim cut himself while he was shaving.
2 - Jim cut himself when he was shaving.

Is there any difference between the two sentences above? My guess is that if I use the conjunction "while" it suggests that Jim cut himself repeatedly.

 

[emsr2d2]

It doesn't suggest a repeated cutting to me. They both work and effectively mean the same. Note that, in BrE, we tend to just say "Jim cut himself shaving".

 

[beachboy]

It doesn't suggest a repeated cutting to me. They both work and effectively mean the same. Note that, in BrE, we tend to just say "Jim cut himself shaving".

I can't understand what I have to consider when choosing between the patterns "SIMPLE PAST - WHEN - PAST CONTINUOUS" and "SIMPLE PAST - WHILE - PAST CONTINUOUS". Is there a rule?

 

[jutfrank]

I can't understand what I have to consider when choosing between the patterns "SIMPLE PAST - WHEN - PAST CONTINUOUS" and "SIMPLE PAST - WHILE - PAST CONTINUOUS". Is there a rule?

No, there's no rule but there is potentially a very subtle difference of focus, let's say. However, in this case, there's no notable difference in meaning.

 

[Tdol]

If he had cut himself repeatedly, which would be unusual, we would make that clear.

 

[beachboy]

If he had cut himself repeatedly, which would be unusual, we would make that clear.

People with depression usually cut themselves repeatedly. I didn't understand what you meant by "'we' would make that clear".

 

[emsr2d2]

"We" = people writing/saying it.

Making it clear would be saying something like "He cut himself four times shaving this morning! He really needs to be more careful!"

 

[Tdol]

People with depression usually cut themselves repeatedly. I didn't understand what you meant by "'we' would make that clear".

This is a man shaving, and there's is no indication that he was self-harming. If someone cut themselves accidentally a number of times when shaving and we were talking about this, we would say that. If we were talking about someone self-harming we would say that. I shave, and have occasionally cut myself. I don't think that I have ever cut myself repeatedly when shaving. If I did, I would make that point clear when telling someone about it. Cutting yourself repeatedly when shaving would refer to one shave, not adding up the cuts over a lifetime, which are very rare with modern razors.