The old lady fell going downstairs. vs The old lad...

Frage

The old lady fell going downstairs.
vs
The old lady fell when going downstairs.

Gedanke

Analyzing sentence comparison

The user seems interested in the difference between "The old lady fell going downstairs" and "The old lady fell when going downstairs." The first can be read as either temporal ("while she was going downstairs") or causal ("because of going downstairs"). It could also introduce ambiguity due to a reduced adverbial clause. A possible misreading involves misplacing the modifier, which leads to confusion with the timing of the fall.

Clarifying sentence differences

The second sentence clearly uses "when" to show time. The first sentence could sound colloquial and may create some ambiguity—"fell going downstairs" could suggest manner or causality, even though the subject ("the old lady") is controlled. Differences include style, brevity, clarity, and the contrast between time and causal emphasis.

Addressing possible misreadings

To clarify, "The old lady fell going downstairs" can be misinterpreted as "she fell as she was going," so "Going downstairs, the vase fell" would be a dangling modifier. We could point out that "while" may feel more precise than "when," and "garden-path" issues could also occur, where "someone else" is mistakenly assumed to be going downstairs.

Addressing subject ambiguity and punctuation

"The old lady fell going downstairs" doesn't leave much room for confusion about the subject, but in "I saw the old lady fall going downstairs," it's unclear whether "I" or "the lady" was going downstairs. With perception verbs, this can cause ambiguity. A comma

Thought for 17s

Antwort

Here’s the nuance:

“The old lady fell going downstairs.”
A reduced clause. It means she fell while she was going downstairs. It’s idiomatic and brief, but a bit more casual. Because it’s a participial phrase (“going downstairs”), a few readers might momentarily wonder if “going downstairs” modifies “fell” in some other way (manner vs. time), though context usually clears it up.
“The old lady fell when going downstairs.”
Explicitly temporal. She fell at the time she was going downstairs. It’s a touch more formal/clear, but “when + -ing” can sound slightly stiffer. Many editors prefer “while going downstairs” here, since the fall happened during the action, not merely at the same instant.

Best, most natural option:

“The old lady fell while going downstairs.” (clearest and smoothest)
Or, even clearer: “The old lady fell while she was going downstairs.”

All four convey the same basic event; the differences are mostly about clarity and style, not meaning.