英语母语者讨论when doing VS while doing

Just wondering which is more accepted by native speakers.

Grammar books tell me that the "While doing ..., ..." structure should be used instead of "When doing", could anybody please explain a little bit?

A few examples:

The operation and maintenance personnel should wear antistatic wrist straps when working.

Wear safety protection devices when working on the overhead passage.

When working on the ceiling, do not throw any things down.

These three sentences are fine with when, and they make sense with while also, but the meaning is different. When = "whenever", "at the time(s) in which", "at any time that"; while = "during the time(s) in which", "for as long as".

For example:

When working on the ceiling, do not throw anything down.

= When(ever) you work on the ceiling, do not throw anything down.

While working on the ceiling, do not throw anything down.

= As you work on the ceiling (= until you stop working on the ceiling), do not throw anything down.

Reply a little bit late..., but I have a question concerning this use of the "-ing" form: In this context (while .../when ...), is this a gerund or a present participle?

Thank you in advance for your answer.

It is the present participle. (Think of "Slippery when wet"/"When wet, the road is slippery", in which wet is an adjective.)

It is the present participle. (Think of "Slippery when wet"/"When wet, the road is slippery", in which wet is an adjective.)

is it natural to be used for progressive tenses like ;

I was a bit nervous while singing yesterday.

回复以上That seems natural enough, but I would probably say:

I got a bit nervous while singing yesterday.

or

I was a bit nervous when I was singing yesterday.

回复以上hmm..

got -> while

was -> when

is it just a matter of register that you would say it that way or there's something tricky or rather explicable difference between got and was ?

回复以上No, it has to do with verbal aspect. "Got nervous" happened at a moment in time, the beginning of being nervous; but "was" is more spread out in time.

"I got nervous while (I was) singing": I started singing, then I became nervous but kept singing anyway.

"I was nervous when I was singing": At some time or times, nervousness coincided with singing.