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Is it okay to use "when" immediately followed by a verb ending with -ing?

For example:

  • When climbing the hill,...
  • When writing a book,...
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    These are fine, and are obvious ellipted forms of 'When / while one is / we were / you will be climbing the hill' etc as context demands. Interestingly, it is harder to see where 'After / since climbing the hill' come from, and why *'During climbing the hill' / *'As climbing the hill' aren't used in the same way.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 9:02
  • During and as both mean simply climbing the hill, without introduction, as a free and therefore dangleable participial phrase. I surmise that if Whiz deletion or a similar rule is operating to reduce syllables, adding during or as at the beginning is counterindicated.
    – John Lawler
    Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 14:24

2 Answers 2

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The construction when + -ing form + complement is acceptable, and very common in written English. It is not often encountered in spoken English, however, which generally prefers a finite clause:

  • When climbing the hill they discovered an ancient footpath.
  • When they were climbing the hill they discovered an ancient footpath.

Be careful in using this construction that you do not create a dangling participle. The implied subject of the verb must be the same as the clause to which the when-clause is subordinated.

ok When climbing the hill they discovered an ancient footpath. ...
∗  When climbing the hill, John stayed behind to explore the ruined hut.

∗  marks an utterance as unacceptable.

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Grammatically when here means while, and it functions as a conjunction.

conjunction = a word that is used to connect parts of sentences , phrases or

clauses like" but" , " and " or" while " .

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    Spaces never get inserted after an open-quote, and spaces come after, a comma, not before. Same with terminal punctuation – there is no blank space between the end of the sentence and the period. Also, while you're correct about the meaning of the word when in this context, I think you should elaborate more on what you mean by them being conjunctions.
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Dec 12, 2013 at 10:42

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