During studying?

[Torsten]

Hi,

I've just come across the following sentence and I wonder if the combination "during studying" is correct:

This way, during studying, you must avoid thinking in your native language.

Shouldn't it read "while studying" instead of "during studying"? I mean, during is usually followed by a noun rather than a gerund, or am I missing something?

Thanks a lot and a happy 2008.
Regards,
Torsten
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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Jamie (K)]

You're right. It should be "while studying" or "during your studies". In English we try to avoid two "-ings" in a row.

[Yankee]

To me, studying is not actually a gerund in your sentence, Torsten. In this case, it is the elided form of the present continuous (i.e. studying is a participle and part of a verb tense). Thus, while should have been used instead of during.

You can use a gerund with during, but as Jamie mentioned, the wording needs to change. Generally speaking, you would need to add an article or a possessive adjective. Even so, this construction will often sound awkward.

- During the showing of the movie, I fell asleep. (a little awkward, but grammatically correct)

- During the watching of the movie, I fell asleep. (very awkward, but technically grammatically correct. I guess this would end up as back-to-back genitives in German: "Während des Anschauens des Filmes...")

- During the movie, I fell asleep. (In German, genitive: "Während des Filmes ...")

- While (I was) watching the movie, I fell asleep. (In English, the past continuous. In German: "Während ich den Film anschaute, ...")
.
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Torsten]

Hi Amy and Jamie,

Thanks a lot for your explanations which make perfect sense. By the way, it's amazing how many webpages contain the phrase "during studying".

Regards,
Torsten
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Jamie (K)]

[Soaryn]