Confusing English Words Despite vs. In Spite vs. Although
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hi everybody my name is Alisha in this
lesson I’m going to talk about the
differences between despite in spite and
although these three words or three
phrases are very commonly used in
similar ways so I’m going to talk about
the differences in using them in
sentences let’s get started okay first I
want to look at despite and as I do I
want to make a special note about this
first point here I have here despite
means even though we’ll see in this
lesson actually all of these mean even
though so they all have this even though
meaning so that means even though a be
this is kind of like a common pattern
we’ll see in the example sentences today
so even though there’s this condition
there’s another condition so we’ll see
this a lot today when we use despite we
need to position it before a noun phrase
it needs to come before a noun phrase
will see this with in spite as well so
this is commonly used with these two
patterns so first is the fact that this
means the expression despite the fact
that and then you describe your
condition this is one very common way to
use despite we can drop that here so
despite the fact or despite the fact
that those are both very common ways to
use despite we can also use despite
before a verb in the ing form so here
we’re making it into a noun so despite
having or despite studying or despite
walking despite sleeping so we’re using
that I ng form we can use both of those
patterns with despite it’s very common
so let’s take a look at how this appears
in sentences then first despite the fact
he had no money he took an expense
vacation despite the fact so here I have
the fact he had no money he took an
expensive vacation so we have to use
some kind of noun expression here when
we’re talking about our work rather when
we’re using despite so this despite he
had no money this is incorrect this is
an incorrect sentence we need to use a
noun here so in this case the fact so
here the fact means this part he had no
money this is the fact we’re talking
about here so the fact fact means true
information 100% true information so
despite the fact this 100% true
information
he took an expensive vacation so again
even though a B so we could change the
sentence around we could say he took an
expensive vacation despite the fact he
had no money that’s also ok it’s up to
you to choose that part so let’s look at
another example using a different
pattern with despite here she took the
day off work despite having a lot to do
so here
I’ve used this verb in the ing form so
despite having a lot to do not despite
half but despite having a lot to do
again if I remove this it’s not correct
despite a lot to do mmm it’s not correct
we need to use a noun there so she took
the day off work despite having a lot to
do again
we could change the order of the
sentence and despite having a lot to do
she took the day off work that’s also ok
alright one more example here we were
pickpocketed at the airport despite that
we had a great trip
this is another common way that we use
despite here mine is that in this case
that refers to the point in the previous
sentence or in the previous clause in
this case despite
the fact we were pickpocketed at the
airport so despite this situation
despite this condition we had a great
trip
so you’ll commonly hear despite that
used to refer to the previous statement
okay so this is how we use despite now
let’s compare that with in spite so in
spite again means even though just as
all of these do in this lesson and just
like in our sorry just like despite
rather it needs to be positioned before
a noun phrase so that means we can use
the same patterns here as we used with
despite so for example the fact that can
be used with spite and there’s one more
point here that’s key we have to use of
when we use in spite so not just in
spite but in spite of something so in
spite of the fact that or another verb
in the ing form pattern here this is
also okay with in spite of so in spite
of having or in spite of losing these
kinds of patterns are okay as well so
this is a key point with in spite you
must use of in spite of some noun phrase
so let’s take a look at a few examples
of this first in spite of the fact we
lost the game the coach took the team
out for pizza so here is my noun phrase
here I’ve used o in spite of the fact we
lost the game so that’s my a here even
though a the coach took the team out for
pizza B even though a B in spite of a B
so there was this condition we lost the
game even though that was the situation
the coach took the team out for pizza so
we could use in spite of here another
example he didn’t get the job he wanted
in spite of that he was cheerful and
optimistic so again here I’ve used that
as my noun phrase where that
refers to the previous sentence so he
didn’t get the job he wanted maybe a
disappointing thing
despite that or in spite of that here we
can use to refer to that to mean like
even though this was the case he was
cheerful and optimistic
so you heard me just now use despite
instead that’s a pretty good clue and a
pretty good hint that actually we can
use in spite of and despite to mean
exactly the same thing they have exactly
the same meaning the only difference is
this of here we need to use of with in
spite and we do not use of with despite
so they are totally interchangeable you
can choose which you prefer I think I
tend to use despite more which is why I
used it just now if you want to you can
use in spite of to to me in spite of
feels a little bit more formal but it
could be just personal preference there
so we can use these two in exactly the
same way
we just need to consider this of point
before the noun phrase okay finally
let’s look at although although so yes
although again means even though as the
others do a key difference here though
is although does not need to be
positioned in front of a noun phrase so
we talked about using the fact or using
a verb in the ing form we do not do that
with although so let’s look at some
examples of how we do use it here
although good weather was expected it
rained on the day of the event so here
you’ll notice there’s no the fact there
is no that or anything here we just
continue right from although into the
condition so we describe the condition
good weather was expected this was the
condition
it rained on the day of the event so
even though a B we follow the same
pattern we followed here but the
structure of the sentence at this point
is just a little bit different there’s
no noun phrase there if we said although
the fact that it would not be correct we
do not use it this way we do not say
although that we do not use that either
we don’t use this verb
one two although having is not something
we use either okay let’s look at another
one so again we just begin describing
the condition right after although
so although we spent a lot of time
planning we didn’t finish the project on
time so here although even though we
spent a lot of time planning so here’s
my condition a we didn’t finish the
project on time so again there’s no like
noun phrase who we need to insert here
we just begin the situation talking
about the situation okay one final
example with although in the middle of
the sentence she was happy about her
test score although she looked
disappointed
so here I’ve reversed it this is like B
although a or B even though a she was
happy about her test score although she
looked disappointed so we can use this
in this way too
you’ll also notice I haven’t used
although like with this
I used that with in spite of and despite
we don’t use it in this way we don’t say
like although that we don’t use it in
that way if you want to refer back to
the previous sentence it might sound
nicer to use despite or in spite of so
that’s a case where maybe one of these
would be better to use than although so
you can see that although as a
conjunction there’s a nice job of
connecting these ideas and then we can
use despite and in spite kind of like to
refer back to go back to another point
that’s how I like to use these anyway so
maybe it’s helpful for you so these all
follow kind of one pattern that I’ve
mentioned many times in this lesson
which is this even though a me so lots
of these example sentences followed this
pattern so even though a B and here I
mentioned an opposite pattern B even
though
Hey so these are both correct you can
just choose whichever you prefer like if
you want to emphasize one point more
than another point you could start the
sentence with that so both patterns are
fine
and you can use all of these to
communicate very similar ideas you just
need to think about how you build the
sentence so I hope that this
introduction to these three expressions
helps you of course if you have
questions or comments or if you want to
practice making a sentence with one of
these please feel free to do so in the
comment section of this video of course
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with your English Studies thanks very
much for watching this lesson and I will
see you again soon bye bye
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