---
title: whilst — Early Modern English dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «whilst» in the Early Modern English dictionary: During the time that; at the same time as. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# whilst

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**Who acts:** She, they · **What happens:** put down, get, speak, come, fly, give up · **To what, where:** candles, stile, fiery dragon, air, mad idea · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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«whilst» in the Early Modern English dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [whilst in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/whilst.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
During the time that; at the same time as.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:whilst:m1:1
# text = During the time that; at the same time as.
1	During	during	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	3	dep	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	as	as	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She put down the candles whilst she got over the stile.

<!-- .note -->
From English Fairy Tales.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:whilst:x1:1
# text = She put down the candles whilst she got over the stile.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	down	down	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	candles	candle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
6	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
7	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
9	over	over	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	stile	stile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **put down** | past | She | the candles |  |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent candle=Goal |
| 2 | **get** | past | she |  |  | the stile |  |  | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme over stile=Destination |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Whilst they were speaking a fiery dragon came flying through the air.

<!-- .note -->
From The Yellow Fairy Book.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:whilst:x2:1
# text = Whilst they were speaking a fiery dragon came flying through the air.
1	Whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	advcl	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	fiery	fiery	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	xcomp	_	_
10	through	through	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · progressive | they | a fiery dragon |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **come** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fly** | gerund |  |  |  | the air |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through air=Location |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
For mercy's sake give up this mad idea and retire whilst you can."

<!-- .note -->
From The Arabian Nights Entertainments.

<!-- fold The tree, 14 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:whilst:x3:1
# text = For mercy's sake give up this mad idea and retire whilst you can."
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	's	's	PART	POS	_	2	case	_	_
4	sake	sake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
5	give	give	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	det	_	_
8	mad	mad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	retire	retire	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
12	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give up** | present |  | this mad idea |  |  |  | for mercy's sake | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent idea=Source |
| 2 | **retire** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn resign-10.11-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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**Text:** the Early Modern English dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova; its examples quote public-domain texts. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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