AS

Welcome to your “As” lesson! In this topic we talk about:
• At the same time as
• “As” meaning “Because”
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At the same time as

“As” can mean “at the same time as”. You use this when two things happen at the same time:

“We waved goodbye as the boat left the dock.”

“I watched as she sipped her tea.”

“Please turn of the heating as you leave.”

You can also use “as” to mean “in the middle of an action”:

“I tripped as I was walking down the road.”

“We saw him as we were leaving the restaurant.”

“As” can also be used to say “exactly at that moment”:

“Just as I closed my eyes, the phone rang.”

“I had to leave the cinema just as the film was getting interesting.”

“As” can also be used to talk about two things happening together for a long period of time:

“I began to get bored with my job as I got used to it.”

“As the week went on, the rain got worse.”

Compare “As” with “When”:

“As” meaning “Because”

“As” can also mean “because”:

“As I was tired, I had a short nap.”

“As it was a Sunday, I switched off the alarm.”

“We cleaned the garage as we had nothing else to do.”

“As I hurt my leg, I took the day off work.”

“Since” can also be used to mean “because”:

“We cleaned the garage since we had nothing else to do.”

Compare this version of “as” with “when”: