0

  1. Drivers who talk on their phone while driving pose a significant risk to pedestrians and other motorists and should therefore be punished.

  2. Drivers who talk on their phone with driving pose a significant risk to pedestrians and other motorists and should therefore be punished.

  3. Drivers who talk on their phone in driving pose a significant risk to pedestrians and other motorists and should therefore be punished.

  4. Drivers who talk on their phone driving pose a significant risk to pedestrians and other motorists and should therefore be punished.

I want to know how they are different in meaning semantically, or if needed logically. And if there is something which does not make sense, please explain it why it does if you can.

Improve this question
2

In this case, 'driving' is the state the driver is in, as such the correct word is 'while'.

'with' and 'in' are incorrect because they both expect a noun. Not using any word at all is incorrect because you have to describe the relation between the driver and the word 'driving', not using anything would cause most readers to try to clump together 'phone' and 'driving' into a single phrase 'phone driving' which doesn't make sense.

Incidentally, you can omit the 'while driving' since you've already identified the subject as 'drivers' hence it's clear by context that you're talking about people who are driving:

Drivers who talk on their phone pose a significant risk to pedestrians and other motorists and should therefore be punished.

However 'motorists' may be a more appropriate word choice.

Edit: To address Andrew's comment, in this case 'driving' is referring to the verb 'to drive' rather than acting as a noun, so you can't use 'with'. 'while' needs to be used as you are talking about two things happening simultaneously, such that talking on the phone is happening at the same time as (while) the person is driving.

Improve this answer
9
  • 1
    Actually "driving" is a noun when used as a gerund, e.g. "With cooking, it's fine if everyone tries and fails -- but with driving, it's better if they get some training first." To make the answer more complete I think you could consider whether it is related to this specific verb ("to drive") or the verb tense used in this sentence ("driving"), and explain more about why "while" is appropriate here. – Andrew Dec 31 '17 at 15:56
  • Actually, in "while driving..." driving is a present participle that can be related to the progressive tense that is implicit in that reduced clause, as "while driving" is short for "while they are driving". – Gustavson Dec 31 '17 at 16:51
  • I don't understand why with cannot be used only by the reason that with needs a noun because, as far as I know, with means 'together'. That is to say, can with decribe a simultaneous situation like while? – GKK Dec 31 '17 at 18:31
  • Also, I don't understand why in is not appropriate in the sentence because I have seen quite a few sentences where 'in Ving' is used. – GKK Dec 31 '17 at 18:36
  • 1
    @EvaristeGalois 'with' cannot describe a simultaneous situation like this, because 'with' means you are acting together with someone else, so even if the person next to you was the one driving you'd have to say 'Passengers who talk on their phones with drivers' or 'with someone driving', not just 'with driving'. 'in' is a preposition and cannot be used in this way, it's not that you can be misunderstood but rather that it's simply the wrong word. – otah007 Dec 31 '17 at 21:49

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.