Tips to Help You Use Commas Correctly with the Subordinating Conjunction “While”

And why the rules differ depending on meaning and placement in a sentence

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In U.S. English, the word “while” is used in various ways. As a noun, it can refer to a (usually short) period as in “Let’s stay here a while” or to time and effort as in “Is it worth your while?” Meanwhile (ahem), as a verb “while” means “to cause to pass” as in “to while away time.”

When it comes to how to use commas with the word “while,” though, we’re most concerned with “while” as a conjunction. (See my “How to Correctly Create Connections with Conjunctions” post for a quick review on this particular part of speech.) Turns out the conjunction “while” has these four definitions according to Merriam-Webster:

1. “During the time that” as in “She took a nap while her parents ran errands.”

2. “As long as” as in “He’ll continue while he can.”

3. “When on the other hand; whereas” as in “Doing that’s easy for an expert, while it’s dangerous for a novice.”

4. “In spite of the fact that; although” as in “Saving money, while sometimes difficult, has long-term benefits.”

You’ll notice that the first two definitions for the conjunction “while” have something to do with time, and the second two point out some sort of contrast. One easy trick to remember has to do with the contrastive forms of “while”: When “while” can be replaced by “whereas” or “although,” at least one comma is always needed.

For this reason, you’ll also notice that at least one comma is used in both the examples of contrastive “while” (3 and 4) shown above. Turns out those commas would still be needed even if both those sentences were rewritten to move the conjunction “while” to the start of each:

“While doing that’s easy for an expert, it’s dangerous for a novice.”

“While sometimes difficult, saving money has long-term benefits.”

The reasoning behind all this has to do with what the word “while” creates in all the examples used above: a subordinate clause. As I state in my post “Subordinate Clauses Simplified,” a subordinate clause is also called a dependent clause because it can’t stand alone. So, in our examples, the subordinate clauses are “while her parents ran errands,” “while he can,” “while it’s dangerous for a novice,” and “while sometimes difficult.” And if you were to delete each of those clauses, each of those examples would still make sense.

Unfortunately, although commas are always needed when “while” can be replaced with “whereas” or “although” regardless of the placement of “while” in a sentence, deciding whether to use commas with the conjunction “while” when it refers to time isn’t always that easy. You’ll notice that both the examples shown above for time-related “while” don’t include commas:

“She took a nap while her parents ran errands.”

“He’ll continue while he can.”

In both, the subordinate clause that begins with “while” appears at the end of the sentence. This brings up another point made in my earlier post on subordinate clauses: While a comma is always needed when a subordinate clause begins a sentence, it’s not always needed when a subordinate clause ends a sentence. For this reason, turning around our earlier examples so “while” begins each sentence introduces the need for a comma in each:

“While her parents ran errands, she took a nap.”

“While he can, he’ll continue.”

To see why it’s best not to include a comma before “while” when it refers to time and begins a subordinate clause that’s placed at the end of a sentence, let’s give it a try:

“She took a nap, while her parents ran errands.”

“He’ll continue, while he can.”

The use of a comma in each makes the subordinate clause parenthetical. Imagine using parentheses instead of a comma in each of these examples:

“She took a nap (while her parents ran errands).”

“He’ll continue (while he can).”

In my opinion, the use of parentheses changes the tone and intended meaning of the sentence, with the second sentence even taking on a sinister tone. So if the intended meaning is to simply state that someone took a nap while others were out or that someone will continue doing whatever they’re doing without implying that they’re about to keel over or succumb to some other tragedy, skipping the comma makes sense.

In short, then: Always use commas when “while” can be replaced by “whereas” or “although” — despite the location of the subordinate clause “while” creates. When “while” refers to time, though, check to see where the subordinate clause it creates is placed in a sentence. If it’s at the start, use a comma after that clause. If it’s in the middle, frame it with commas. But if it’s at the end, no comma before “while” is needed.

An earlier version of this post appeared in The Writing Cooperative.

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I write fiction, poetry, and nonfiction when I’m not working as a copy editor. Author of the novel *One Sister’s Song and the e-book [Not Nearly Everything You Need to Know About Writing](https://amzn.to/3mjSa2O). Learn more at my free [Writing Well](https://karendegrootcarter.substack.com/)* newsletter.