Author Topic: "Meantime" and "meanwhile"  (Read 5663 times)

Miss Mae

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"Meantime" and "meanwhile"
« on: March 24, 2014, 03:03:29 PM »
Can 'meantime' be uttered at the beginning of a sentence?

That's what the sportscaster I had a crush on said this morning. Shouldn't it have been 'in the meantime' if that adverb would be used at the start of a sentence?
« Last Edit: March 24, 2014, 07:08:05 PM by Joe Carillo »

Joe Carillo

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Re: "Meantime" and "meanwhile"
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2014, 07:07:31 PM »
No, I don’t think that “meantime,” which has the same sense as “meanwhile,” should be uttered at the beginning of a sentence, and neither should it be used as a stand-alone adverb anywhere else in a sentence. For it to work properly, “meantime” has to be prefaced with the words “in the” to form the prepositional phrase “in the meantime,” which is the exact equivalent of the adverb “meanwhile.” You don’t say “It’s still three minutes before the start of the ballgame. Meantime, here’s a rundown of the team rankings so far.” Instead, you say: “It’s still three minutes before the start of the ballgame. In the meantime, here’s a rundown of the team rankings so far” or, even more succinctly, “It’s still three minutes before the start of the ballgame. Meanwhile, here’s a rundown of the team rankings so far” 

And while we are at the subject, although both “in the meantime” and “meanwhile” can be used at the start of a sentence, I would like to emphasize that they work properly only if that sentence immediately follows a sentence that states another event, action, process, or period, as in these examples: “You do the groceries now. In the meantime, I’ll get some tools from the hardware section.” “You do the groceries now. Meanwhile, I’ll get some tools from the hardware section.” Of course, you’ll also recall that each of those two sentences can be combined into just one sentence by linking the component clauses with a semicolon, as follows: “You do the groceries now; in the meantime, I’ll get some tools from the hardware section.” “You do the groceries now; meanwhile, I’ll get some tools from the hardware section.” All of these examples clearly show that both “in the meantime” and “meanwhile” denote a transition between a “before” and an “after” scenario; without a “before” scenario as an opening statement, neither “in the meantime” nor “meanwhile” can function properly as a transitional device.

So while there’s nothing wrong with starting an “after” sentence with either “in the meantime” or meanwhile,” that sportscaster-crush of yours would be ill-advised to ever begin a sportscast with an opening spiel that starts with the words “in the meantime” or “meanwhile.” Without a “before” statement or scenario preceding it, that statement definitely will make that sportscaster sound silly, even nonsensical. And for him to do that habitually would be proof that perhaps his English isn’t good enough for sportscasting—a sorry state of affairs that, well, might just vaporize your crush on him.

Miss Mae

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Re: "Meantime" and "meanwhile"
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2014, 12:09:49 AM »
Yeah. He's not my crush anymore.

Thank you.