by Jennie Ruby
"Why does my editor keep changing while and since to although and because?" asked a friend who works on an academic journal. It’s that style guide thing again! Some editorial styles restrict the use of the words since and while to their temporal sense only. That means you cannot use them to introduce clauses that do not have to do specifically with time. If your style guide has this rule, then you cannot say
While I like eggs, my friend does not. (Change while to although.)
But you can say
While the eggs are cooking, I will butter the toast.
Likewise, you cannot say
Since the wind is blowing, I will not wear a hat today. (Change since to because.)
But you can say
Since 2006 the windstorms have been more and more frequent.
Now, mind you, none of these sentences are grammatically incorrect. They are all acceptable English sentences. The reason some style guides restrict the use of while and since is that these words are considered more vague than although and because. The style guides that make this restriction are usually in technical fields such as science, engineering, and technology. If you are writing technical training materials, your style guide probably does have this restriction. Although you may not like it, you must use although and because.
About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Essentials of Access 2000" and "Editing with MS Word 2003 and Adobe Acrobat 7" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.