Is it correct to say "under the war"

Question

this is my first question, so I hope I'm doing it right.

My students keep writing "under the war" and "under WW2". I would have intuitively written "during the war", but since I'm not a native speaker myself, I'm starting to doubt... Who is right?

Answer 1

The term under in this context has the notion of related to, rather than during the interval of.

under preposition 5.1 In a state of. ‘For decades, he helped many of them to survive under difficult circumstances.’ - ODO

Here's an example:

• The World under the War - Chapter 10, The War in the Air by Herbert George Wells

If the context was more along the lines of the following, it wouldn't be appropriate to replace during with under:

• During the war, both sides traditionally honored a general ceasefire during the holiday. - Chapter 7, Chemical Warfare During the Vietnam War by D. Hank Ellison

The phrase during the war in that sentence relates simply to time. Ceasefires during holidays are not intrinsic to warfare.

However, there are contexts in which a case could be made to interpret the phrase either as simply a time reference or as a reference to the conditions of the war. Here's an example:

• There certainly hadn't been that many customers during the war, so Missouri was delighted to have some business, especially with a Confederate soldier. - Page 50, Southern Memories During the War Between the States by Anne L. Terio

If you replaced during with under, the sense of the sentence would be that the conditions of war led to low patronage. As written, the sense is more strongly that of a time reference.

One might argue that the ceasefire example could be coerced to fit the phrase under the war, or counter that the customers example cannot be so coerced. In the final analysis, the intent of the author should be brought to bear by considering the broader context. The term war already brings up connotations of hardship etc, but under amplifies these connotations much more than during.

Answer 2

OP needs to provide more context.

If the meaning is "during the period of time when WW2 was happening" then "during" is correct.

I cannot think of any correct use of "under" in this context and it sounds very much like students translating from their own language 1:1 which is a frequent problem with prepositions.