student asking question

What does "while ~ing" mean?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"While" in this context means "at the same time", and "providing" means "supplying". Therefore, this sentence is saying that food can supply people with water, valuable nutrients and fiber all at the same time. "While" plus an "-ing" verb refers to something happening during the same time as something else. Ex: While running yesterday, I dropped my phone. Ex: I watch TV while talking on the phone.

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