Sentence correction
1. The thief was caught while trying to steal gift packets from a community hall.

Does the use of 'while' inappropriate here, if so, why?

2. The minister praised the record voter turnout, and calling it a victory for democracy irrespective of the outcome.

Should we omit 'and' here, if yes, please explain why?

Thanks

Question

Sentence correction
1. The thief was caught while trying to steal gift packets from a community hall.

Does the use of 'while' inappropriate here, if so, why?

2. The minister praised the record voter turnout, and calling it a victory for democracy irrespective of the outcome.

Should we omit 'and' here, if yes, please explain why?

Thanks

Answer

1. "while" is ok.  From a style point of view, perhaps "when" is better if the action of trying to steal was short i.e if we think of this crime as taking place at a particular moment in time rather than over a period of time.  It would depend on how many gift packets (?) and how long the process took him.

2. If you had "and", then the minister did two things, "praised" and "called" (not calling).  If we omit "and", then we have a participle clause which acts as an adverb modifying the whole preceding main clause.  I hope that makes sense.

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