So, what?

People go to the beach all the time

Oh my goodness!

Although it was raining, I went to the beach

Okay, now that is surprising

Not many people go to the beach when it's raining

Let's take a minute to talk about the meaning of this word...

'Although'

In this sentence we have two facts

The first one is, 'I went to the beach'

Nothing surprising here

and here is the second fact

It was raining

When you put them together

The second fact makes the first fact seem surprising

Although is used to show this surprising relationship

between the two facts

Would you like to see a couple more examples?

Good!

I don't want to be a firefighter, although I could save kittens

Come and get it

Here I come

You've got to be kidding me

Although she was hungry, Lucy didn't eat

Now let's talk about the grammar for how to use 'although'

'Although' is a subordinating conjunction

and it is followed by a clause

Remember, a clause is a group of words

that has at least a subject and a verb

Though it may also have objects, a complement, and some adverbials

Together these make a subordinate clause

It is called a subordinate clause because it can not make a sentence on its own

If someone said, 'although she was hungry...'

What are you talking about? Although she was hungry, what?

and stopped there

The listener would be waiting for more information

The idea wouldn't feel complete

that is why the subordinate clause must be followed by another

This one is the main clause

Unlike the subordinate clause

The main clause does express a complete idea

and can stand on its own

One more thing...

It is also possible to switch the order of the clauses

You could also say, 'Lucy didn't eat, although she was hungry'

All right

Now I'd like to show you

Some more subordinating conjunctions

that show a contrast of surprising fact

These words have the SAME meaning

and the SAME grammar as 'although'

So, we could say...

Though she was hungry, she didn't eat

Or, in spite of the fact that she was hungry, she didn't eat

Or,...

Even though she was hungry, she didn't eat

Now you know four subordinating conjunctions

that you can use to show a contrast of surprising facts

we have...

'In spite of the fact that'

'Though'

'Although' and 'even though'

All right, it's confesion time

I told you they were the same

but I lied

Sorry

There is a small difference

in the degree of formality of these words

In spite of the fact that is the most formal

and 'even though' is the least formal

Take a look at these examples

In spite of the fact that the bolivarian revolution

doesn't maintain law and order in the streets

Maduro remains in power

Although it cost $6 million, Abdullah bought the camel

Though he would lose much

Snowden exposed how the American government

invades people's privacy in the name of security

Even though Min Ji is already very beautiful

She wants to get plastic surgery

All right, that's it for subordinate conjunctions

Now let's take a look at 'despite' and 'in spite of'

These words are also used to show a contrast of surprising fact

Phew, we've been working a lot, let's go back to the beach

despite it was raining

we had a lot of fun

Oh, good for you

Now, if we think about this sentence from the point of view of the meaning

it's perfectly correct

we're still showing a contrast

However, from a grammatical point of view

This sentence is wrong

You can't use a clause after despite

We've seen that this sentence is wrong

despite can't be followed by a clause

Why? You might be asking yourself

Well,...

that is because 'despite' is a preposition

and after a preposition you need to use a noun

So, we could say...

Despite the rain, I went to the beach

Or, in spite of the rain...

I went to the beach

'Despite'

and 'in spite of'

are both prepositions

They have the same meaning

and the same grammar

The first part of this sentence

'despite the rain'

is called a prepositional phrase

It is also possible to put the prepositional phrase

at the end of the sentence

You could say

I went to the beach despite the rain

but notice the difference

When the prepositional phrase is at the beginning of the sentence

You must put a comma after it

Notice how, we don't need a comma

when the prepositional phrase is at the end of the sentence

Got it? Good!

Here's a few examples for you

She said no in spite of his romantic proposal

In spite of being the youngest employee, she got the promotion

In spite of his bad eye-sight,

Kenneth was able to read the note

I've just told you that a preposition is followed by a noun

Now, if you'll indulge me

I'd like to take a minute to tell you all about the gerund clause

a gerund clause, like any other kind of clause,

has a subject

There are two things you need to know about subjects in gerund clauses

First of all,...

They are usually optional

and, as a matter of fact

they're not usually used

Second of all...

must be a possessive adjective

or a possessive noun

the possessive adjectives are...

my...your...

his...her...

its...our...

and their

in place of the verb

you need to use a gerund

hence the name, gerund clause

if you want to make it negative

simply put a 'not' in front of the gerund

like a tensed clause, a gerund clause can have objects

a complement

and even some adverbials

in the examples I'm about to show you

I will only use adverbials of time

for example, we could make a gerund clause

my...

not...

giving...

her...

the letter...

last week...

as in...

despite my not giving her the letter last week,

she heard the news, oh boy!

here's another

her...

offering...

them...

a hand...

for a couple of hours...

as in...

in spite of her offering them a hand for a couple of hours,

they decided to do it without her.

and here's another example

their...

having left...

early...

as in...

despite their having left early,...

they arrived late

Finally, here's an example with a possessive noun

John's...

not...

travelling...

anymore...

as in...

in spite of John's not travelling anymore,

he has a really nice tan

Now let me show you

how we would transform a subordinate clause

into a gerund clause

first, take the subordinate conjunction

and change it into a preposition

then change the subject into a possessive adjective

then change the verb phrase into a gerund

this is a tricky one

in this sentence we have the modal verb 'could'

'being able to' is the gerund form of 'could'

so use being able to with the base form of the verb

and there is no need to change the object

Voila!

we have, 'despite my being able to save kittens'

this is a prepositional phrase

that has a gerund clause

subordinate to the preposition

All right, would you like to see the whole sentence?

here it is

Despite my being able to save kittens,

I don't want to be a firefighter

okay, here's one more example

'although' becomes 'despite'

'it' becomes the possessive adjective 'its'

'cost' becomes the gerund 'costing'

and again, the object remains the same

and we get the sentence

Despite its costing $6 million dollars,

Abdullah bout the camel

All right, here's a few more examples for you

In spite of the ostrich's burying its head in the sand,

its problems did not disappear

he didn't catch any fish despite having fished all day

in spite of his being a creepy little puppet

Billy is quite popular

or maybe its because of his creepiness

all right, now it's time for your first exercise

what you need to do is match the subordinate clause

to its corresponding main clause

to make a complete sentence

The answers will be available after the timer finishes counting down

and here are the answers

one goes with e

despite the fact that the sun was shining, the snow didn't melt

two matches up with d

despite all his faults, she still loves him

three with b

although she has many problems, she always looks happy

four, c

despite the heavy traffic, we arrived on time

Finally, five...d

although the house is small, it is well designed

okay, onto the next exercise

in this exercise, you must complete the sentence

with either a subordinate conjunction

or a preposition

pay attention to whether the blank space is followed by a noun

a gerund phrase or a clause

again

the answers will appear after the timer has finished counting down

and now the answers

one

I like her, even though she annoying at times

two...

although the sun was shining, it wasn't very warm

three

in spite of her heart trouble,

she went on the roller coaster

four, she enjoyed the concert despite having a headache

and finally number five

we enjoyed the movie, even though the weather was bad

if you used a different subordinating conjunction or preposition from me

that's okay, it's still correct

remember, they are interchangeable

and now, onto the final exercise

what you have to do here is change the subordinate clause

into a gerund clause

and then rewrite the sentence with a prepositional phrase of contrast

For example, if I said, "I thought he was wrong,....

...although I didn't say anything at the time."

you would have to change it to...

I thought he was wrong despite my not saying anything at the time

okay, good luck

Now, here are the sentences

again, the answers will be available after the timer has finished counting down

good luck!

number one

despite Elaine's being tired, she couldn't fall asleep