ELISA ENGLISH's Blog 英語園地

Although vs. Despite

"Despite" is a preposition; it's followed by a noun, pronoun, or non-finite clause (such as gerund, participle, and infinitive).  It cannot be followed by a finite clause.

Despite = regardless of, in spite of - 不管, 不在意 

Despite feeling tired, he still stayed up late working on his novel last night.

=> non-finite: participle

= Regardless of feeling tired, he still stayed up late working on his novel last night.

= In spite of feeling tired, he still stayed up late working on his novel last night.

Despite the street being slippery, the kids went biking.   

=> non-finite: participle

Despite he felt tired, he still stayed up late working on his novel last night.   (X)

=> finite clause.  

Despite that, they still boarded the plane to Paris. 

=> pronoun.

Despite John’s objection, Mary married her high school sweet heart.
=> noun.

Despite snowing, he still attends the party.  

= Despite the fact that it is snowing, he still attends the party.  

"Although" is a conjunction; it's followed by finite clause or participial phrase.  There is, however, controversy about the usage of "although".  The argument that some have is that "although" is a subordinating conjunction and can only be followed by a subordinating clause. 

Some stated that subordinating conjunctions (although, before, until, while, whenever, once, if), when used to introduce a participial phrase instead of a full clause, become prepositions with identical meanings.   When “although” is used to introduce a participial phrase, the subject of the main clause needs to be the same as the entity referred to by the participial phrase.  However, “despite” can be used without conformity of the subject.

If you ask me what I think about the usage of "although", I agree with the statement that subordinating clause can be reduce to participial phrase for the following subordinating conjunctions: although, before, until, while, whenever, once and if. 

Although = Even though, Though

-通常表示讓步; 妥協 = 縱然

Although feeling tired, he continued to work on his novel.

=> participial phrase

 = Although he felt tired, he continued to work on his novel.

 => finite clause (subordinating clause).

 Although swimming is fun, I decide to go jogging instead.

 => finite clause (subordinating clause).

Although (being) trained to be a top scientist, I still failed to become one

=> participial phrase

 = Although I was trained to be a top scientist, I still failed to become one.

=> finite clause (subordinating clause).

Although (he is) a top scientist, he is still very humble.

Although (being) a top scientist, he is still very humble.

Although (he is) intelligent, he is still very humble.

Although encompassing a great many goals, the plan is still feasible. 

Although bad weather, he still goes out.    (X) 

Although snowing, he still goes out.  (X) 

** 版權所有 - Elisa