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I understand that and and while/whereas have different meanings. However, I couldn't decide which one is more accurate and suitable for the following example.

A Line-of-sight (LoS) link is established if blah-blah-blah, and a non-LoS link is established if blah-blah-blah.

A Line-of-sight (LoS) link is established if blah-blah-blah, while a non-LoS link is established if blah-blah-blah.

A Line-of-sight (LoS) link is established if blah-blah-blah, whereas a non-LoS link is established if blah-blah-blah.

Which one is the most suitable?

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    Neither "while" nor "whereas" are opposite to "and". They're all simple conjunctions. The only difference is that "while" and "whereas" also indicate a contrast between the two conjoined things, while "and" does not. The choice of which to use is a style preference. There is no right or wrong answer here.
    – gotube
    Sep 22, 2021 at 6:56

1 Answer 1

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This is one of those places where English is very flexible. All three of those are valid ways to phrase it. Since you're drawing a distinction, and is a little less suitable than while or whereas, but there's not much to distinguish between those latter two.

I'd probably say "while", just because "whereas" feels a little too stiffly formal to me, but that's something that probably varies depending on where you live.

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  • I believe that the word "whereas" is somewhat archaic in everyday speech. It is common in legal documents and also medical reports but rarely in daily conversation.
    – jwh20
    Sep 21, 2021 at 21:37
  • I would tend to agree; but I'm an American so I'm not sure it's so 'archaic' in the UK, and being extremely formal might be the right choice depending on what the OP is writing. Sep 21, 2021 at 21:40
  • All sound fine to me for formal writing (as an American). British English speakers might use "whilst".
    – nschneid
    Sep 22, 2021 at 3:35
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    I think you have the heart of a good answer here, but could improve it. First, we need to understand what the OP wants to express and in what context before we can provide a legitimate opinon about which is better. All are "valid" in the sense that they can all form grammatical sentences. However, as you pretty much correctly say, "and" is normally used to add the second main element of information to the first, while(!) the other two discourse markers are used to suggest contrast. Further, it's hard to know if while is better because it's less formal. Perhaps the OP wishes to be formal. Sep 25, 2021 at 11:57

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