'in spite of', 'despite', 'although', 'even though' and 'though'

After in spite of and despite, we use a noun, gerund (-ing form of a verb) or a pronoun. They never made much money, in spite of their success. In spite of the ... Skiptomaincontent Grammar Intermediatetoupperintermediate 'inspiteof','despite','although','eventhough'and'though' 'inspiteof','despite','although','eventhough'and'though' Doyouknowhowtoconnecttwocontrastingideas? Lookattheseexamplestoseehowalthough,eventhough,inspiteofanddespiteareused. Althoughwedon'tagree,Ithinkshe'sabrilliantspeaker. Eventhoughwedon'tagree,Ithinkshe'sabrilliantspeaker. Inspiteofthelaw,peoplecontinuetousemobilephoneswhiledriving. Despitethelaw,peoplecontinuetousemobilephoneswhiledriving. Trythisexercisetotestyourgrammar. Grammartest1 'inspiteof','despite','although','eventhough'and'though':Grammartest1 Readtheexplanationtolearnmore. Grammarexplanation Although,eventhough,inspiteofanddespiteareallusedtolinktwocontrastingideas orshowthatonefactmakestheotherfactsurprising.Theycanallbeusedatthebeginningorinthemiddleofthesentence.  Despitetherain,weenjoyedthefestival. Weenjoyedthefestival,despitetherain. Themaindifferencebetweenalthough,eventhough,inspiteofanddespiteisthattheyareusedwithdifferentstructures.  inspiteof/despite Afterinspiteofanddespite,weuseanoun,gerund(-ingformofaverb)orapronoun. Theynevermademuchmoney,inspiteoftheirsuccess. Inspiteofthepaininhisleg,hecompletedthemarathon. Despitehavingaheadache,Ihadagreatbirthday. Thetrainwascancelled.Inspiteofthat,wearrivedontime. Notethatitiscommontouseinspiteofanddespitewiththeexpressionthefactthat,followedbyasubjectandverb. Inspiteofthefactthatheworkedveryhard,hedidn'tpasstheexam. Despitethefactthatheworkedveryhard,hedidn'tpasstheexam. although/eventhough Afteralthoughandeventhough,weuseasubjectandaverb.Eventhoughisslightlystrongerandmoreemphaticthanalthough. Ienjoyedthecourse,althoughIwouldhavelikedmoregrammarpractice. Althoughwesaweachothereveryday,wedidn'treallyknoweachother. Eventhoughshespokeveryquietly,heunderstoodeveryword. Shedidn'tgetthejob,eventhoughshehadallthenecessaryqualifications. though Thoughcanbeusedinthesamewayasalthough.  ThoughIwasn'tkeenonthefilm,Ithoughtthemusicwasbeautiful. Thoughcanalsogoattheendofthesecondphrase.ThiswayofexpressingcontrastingideasismostcommoninspokenEnglish. Wewaitedagesforourfood.Thewaiterwasreallynice,though. Dothisexercisetotestyourgrammaragain. Grammartest2 'inspiteof','despite','although','eventhough'and'though':Grammartest2 Takeyourlanguageskillsandyourcareertothenextlevel Getunlimitedaccesstoourself-studycoursesforonly£5.99/month. Findoutmore Tryanothergrammarlesson Languagelevel Intermediate:B1 Inmostofthecases,canweuseinspiteofanddespiteinterchangeably? Loginorregistertopostcomments Helloaamirmit, Yes,theymeanthesamethingandinmostcasestheycanbeusedinterchangeably. Ican'tthinkofoneoffthetopofmyhead,butthereareprobablyafewexpressionswhereoneisusedandtheotherisn't--otherwisebothworkequallywell. Allthebest, Kirk TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments inspiteofbeingagoodteacher,Iwillhelpthestudent. Loginorregistertopostcomments AlthoughmyEnglishisatapre-intermediatelevel,IalwaystrytospeakEnglishfluently. ThankstotheLearnEnglishteam,peopleovertheworldcouldlearnEnglishmoreeasily. Loginorregistertopostcomments Despitebeinglessthrilling,Ilikethebusjourney. Despitebeingagreatvirtueinprivatelife,lovedoesn'tworkinpubliclife. Couldyoutellmeaboutthetensethathasbeenusedintheaforementionedsentences? Loginorregistertopostcomments Hello Md.Habibullah, Thereisonlyonetenseusedineachsentence: Despitebeinglessthrilling,Ilikethebusjourney. Despitebeingagreatvirtueinprivatelife,lovedoesn'tworkinpubliclife. Theunderlinedverbsare presentsimpleforms. Inthefirstsentencethepresentsimpleisusedtoexpressapreferenceoremotion;weusepresentsimpleforthisratherthancontinous. Inthesecondsentencethepresentsimpleisusedtodescribesomethingwhichisgenerallytrue.   Peter TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments AndalsoIntest23rdone.Thereisusing“inspiteof”butbecauseofpresentsimple(sleepwell)wecan’t Loginorregistertopostcomments Hi RIma0987u, Thephraseis:... butinspiteof thatIsleepwell.Thephrase inspiteof mustbe followedbyanounphrase,pronounorgerund(here,it'sfollowedby that,apronoun, whichreferstothepartnersnoringloudly). Isleepwell isadifferentclause.It'snotpartofthe inspiteof clause. Doesthatmakesense? Jonathan TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments HelloIcan’tunderstand,whyintest2lastonesanswerisalthough.Thereisusinggerund(sheisarriving)andaftergerundweuseDespiteorinspiteof Loginorregistertopostcomments Hi RIma0987u, Thestructuresare: Although+subject+verb Despite/Inspiteof+subject(withoutaverbphrase) Thequestionsays she'sarrivinglate.Here, she isasubject,and 'sarrivinglate isaverbphrase.That'swhy although istherightoption.Wecan'tuse despite or inspiteof,becausetheymustbefollowedbyasubjectonly(i.e.,anounphrase,gerundorpronoun,withoutaverbphrase).   Agerundcanfunction asasubject(oranobject).Itcanbeinanystructurethatneedsasubject.Butactually,inthephrase Sheisarriving,arrivingisn'tagerund.It's averbinthe -ingverb.An-ingformiscalledagerundwhenitfunctionsasanoun.Here,it'snotagerundbecauseitfunctionsasaverb. Ihopethathelps:) Jonathan TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments Hello.Please,Iwouldliketoasksomething. InoticedthatIuseTHOUGH,ALTHOUGHandEVENTHOUGHbeforesubjects.ButwhatistheruletouseINSPITOF? Loginorregistertopostcomments HiJohnnyMG, Inspiteofisfollowedbyanoun,pronounorgerund,withoutamainverb(i.e.notaclause).:) Jonathan TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments Thetrainwascancelled.Inspiteofthat,wearrivedontime. wesaidthatafter"although"weputasubjectandinthisphraseweputthesubjectafter"inspitof"sohowwecanmakethedifference. Loginorregistertopostcomments Hidiamanta7, Although needstohave asubjectandaverbafterit(i.e.afullclause).But inspiteof justneedsanounorpronoun,withoutaverb. Jonathan TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments Hi, couldpleaseletmeknowifthesesentencesaregrammaticallyright Eventhoughconnectingideasisabitconfusing,I'lltryhardtomasterit. Despitethehardworkhedid,hefailedtopasstheexam. Despiteofhavingthenecessaryqualificationsandskills,Iwasn'thiredforthatposition. Theproblemstillpersistsalthoughtheytoldthatitwasfixed. thanksinadvance. Loginorregistertopostcomments HiMaahir, Thefirsttwosentencesarecorrect:) Sentence3shouldbe Despitehaving... orInspiteofhaving... (not Despiteof,whichisnotacorrectform). Sentence4needstoaddthe objectof told:... althoughtheytoldme/usthat... Jonathan TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments HiJonathan, Manythanks. Loginorregistertopostcomments Hi,butthefirstsentencesays:connecting...isagerundsowhyshedidn'tuseDespiteorinspiteof....gerundfollowedbyasubject(ornoun) Loginorregistertopostcomments Hipablito, Goodquestion:) It'sbecausethere'snot onlyagerundintheclause. There'saverbphrasetoo(underlined): Eventhoughconnectingideasisabitconfusing,.... After Eventhough,weneedtoput asubjectandaverbphrase.Agerundcanfunctionasasubject.   After Despite or Inspiteof,weputagerund,noun orpronoun,withoutaverbphrase.So,wecouldsaysomethinglikethis,withasimilarmeaning: Despitemyconfusionaboutconnectingideas,I'lltryhardtomasterit.(Theunderlinedpartisanounphrase). Doesthatmakesense? Jonathan TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments Hello,Iseethat"evenif"isnotlisted,isitwrong?Ifit'saccepted,couldyoutellmeifit'sstandardEnglishorcolloquial? Loginorregistertopostcomments HelloAglaia, 'evenif'isabitdifferentfrom'eventhough'or'although'.'eventhough'referstoarealsituation.Forexample,inthelastexamplesentenceabove,thewomandidn'tgetthejobdespitehavingtherequiredqualifications--weunderstandfromthisthatthewomanappliedforthejobandperhapsevenhadaninterview. Incontrast,'evenif'typicallyreferstoimaginarysituations.Soifwesaid'Shewon'tgetthejobevenifshehasthequalifications',we'reimaginingasituationthatdoesn'texistyet. I'dsuggesthavingalookatthisone-minutevideoonthistopicfromBBCLearningEnglish. Hopethishelps. Allthebest, Kirk TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments HelloadmincanyoutellmehowcanIfindtopicsabout"asif"... Oritwouldbekindenoughifyoucouldhelpmeunderstandthecorrectgrammaticalstructureof"asif"asI'mslightlyconfusedaboutit'sstructure...thankyouinadvance Loginorregistertopostcomments HiMARUFAMARJANPRITHIE, Havealookatthispageabout'as'and'like'. Ihopeitanswersyourquestion:) Jonathan TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments Thankyou... Loginorregistertopostcomments ThisisreallyagoodexplenationandIunderstooditwellbutistillhavedoubtsonthisquestion. ...mycarefulplanning,weendedupstayinginareallybadhotel Despite Although Eventhough Isitgrammaticallycorrecttousebothdespiteanddespiteofinthissentence?Orwecantusedespitewithof? Loginorregistertopostcomments HiMemmedevaNezrin, That'sright,wecan'tusedespitewithof.But,thereisasimilarphrase:Inspiteof.Itmeansthesamethingasdespite,soitfitsinyourexamplesentencetoo. Bestwishes, Jonathan TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments DearJonathan, Iamabitconfusedwhywecan'tusedespiteofwiththeabovesentence,becauseintheGrammarexplanationitsaysthatwecanusebothdespiteanddespiteofwithnoun,gerund(ing-verb)orpronouns.couldyoukindlyexplainitmore. Thanks Loginorregistertopostcomments HiMaahir, Actually,itsayswecanuseboth despite and inspiteof (not despiteof). Despiteof isnotacorrectform. Jonathan TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments AlthoughIdon'thaveenoughtimetopratice,Idomybesttodoit. Loginorregistertopostcomments EventhoughIcouldnotunderstandhowtousetheconjunctionscontrastingwordslastyear,nowIfindthemeasytouse. Loginorregistertopostcomments "Inowfindthemeasier"wouldbebetter Loginorregistertopostcomments Eventhoughit'squitecomplex,iunderstoodthedifferencebetweenalthough/eventhoughandinspiteof/despite.. However,Ithinkthatineedtopracticemore. Loginorregistertopostcomments Hey! ActuallyIcantunderstandthatthemeaningof"though"is"however".Likethat: A:Youhavesixhoursintheairportbetweenflights! B:Idon’tmind,though.Ihavelotsofworktodo.I’lljustbringmylaptopwithme. A:It’sexpensive. B:It’snice,though. A:Yeah,IthinkI’llbuyit. Canyouexplainmethemeaningof"tho"inthissentences? Loginorregistertopostcomments Hiceylinesp, Yes,inthesesentencesthough hasameaningsimilarto but or however. (Butnoticethatithasadifferentpositioninthesentence.) Idon'tmind,though.=ButIdon'tmind. It'snice,though.=Butit'snice. Though showsacontrastwithsomething.Forexample,inthefirstsentence,sixhourstowaitisalongtimeandmaybeboring.ButwecanseethatpersonBdoesn'tmind,whichcontrastswithwhatpersonAthinks. Doesthatmakesense? Bestwishes, Jonathan TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments Eventhoughgrammarenglishisquitecomplex,Istarttounderstandthosesentencesstructures. Despitetakinglotoftimeandlotofwork,I’mglad,Iunderstand. Loginorregistertopostcomments EventhoughIpractiseEnglishanhourperdayihaven'tseemagreaterprogressonmylanguageknowledge.Iguessiwouldneedtodoublethetime. I'mmakinganeffortongivinganaproppiatecommentdespitemyincompletestudiesoftheenglishgrammar. Despiteofthefacti'vestudiedEnglishathighschoolandinanInstitutei'veacknowlegdedstillneedtopractisesomeareasofgrammar. Loginorregistertopostcomments Dispitethefactyoudidn'taskmetocommentthistime,iamdoingit.Andinspiteofthatiamplanningtodoitagain! Althoughi'vealreadymademyusefulcommentbelowiamdoingasecondone,itoldyou... Now,Eventhoughi'vealreadymade2commentsasiamsuperborediamdoingathirdone,ihopeyouunderstand. Itseemsthatthisguyhasnothingtodowithhislife,wasprettycreative,though. Loginorregistertopostcomments Althoughididn'thaveenoughtime,Ireadyourcomment. Ireadeachsentenceseventhoughtheyweren'tsuperexciting. Despitethefactyouarenottryingtobefunny,commentsarereallyfunny.Andinspiteofthatiamtryingtoreply. Loginorregistertopostcomments AlthoughIhavenotimetoo,Iwouldliketocommentinordertodosomepractice.Despitebeingmyfirsttimeusingthiswords,Iactuallyfeelcomfortablewiththem.Wemaybedoinganotherthing,though. EventhoughIamfinishingthisletter,IhopeIhadunderstooditall. InspiteofthefactthatIcanbewritinguntilleternity,Ihavetofinishforobviousreasons... Loginorregistertopostcomments Istherearulewhentouseinspiteof/despite?Orwecouldjustchoosewhateverwewantwhenconstructingsentences?Samequestionwithalthoughandeventhough. Loginorregistertopostcomments Helloflower_dem, Ithinkdespiteandinspiteof(threewords,notoneasinyourquestion)areinterchangeable;youcanuseeitherwithoutitmakingany difference. Iwouldsaythateventhoughisstrongerthanalthough.Itsignalsamoreextremecontrast.   Peter TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments Thanksforthisexplanation,it'sveryuseful Loginorregistertopostcomments AlthoughistudiedhighschoolinEnglishlanguage,istillhavesomedifficultiesinsomeareas. Loginorregistertopostcomments Whycan'tIsay"Despiteshehasajob,sheisunhappy" Loginorregistertopostcomments HelloAdrianH, 'Despite'needstobefollowedbyadirectobject.Thiscanbeanounoragerund(verb-ing). Youcouldsaythis: Despitehavingajob,sheisunhappy. Despitethefactthatshehasajob,sheisunhappy.   Alternatively,youcoulduseadifferentlinkingdevice: Althoughshehasajob,sheisunhappy. Eventhoughshehasajob,sheisunhappy.   Peter TheLearnEnglishTeam Loginorregistertopostcomments ThankyousomuchMr.Peter,yourexplanationhelpedmealot. Loginorregistertopostcomments Althoughitwasraining,theycompletedthegame. Loginorregistertopostcomments AlthoughI'amabeginner,Ihavescored100% Loginorregistertopostcomments I'mverysatisfiedwithmyscoreinbothGrammarTests.Iscoredahundredpercent.However,Ithinkit'salittletoocheap. Loginorregistertopostcomments EventhoughIwasnotonlinethesetwolastdays,I'vedonemybesttobeconnectedtoday. 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