Though, although, even though, however, despite, in spite of | Contrast Words + USEFUL VOCABULARY

Hey there, and welcome.

In this video, I’m going to teach you how to use linking words of contrast – though,

although, even though, however, despite and in spite of.

There are examples to help you understand, and I have also included some useful vocabulary

words and phrases.

So, make sure to watch the full lesson.

Alright, let’s begin.

As I said in the introduction, the words we are discussing in this lesson, “although”,

“however”, “despite” etc. are used to express contrast, that is, to show how

two ideas are opposite to each other.

Let’s take a simple example: “I invited Maya to my wedding.

She didn’t come.”

Here, we have two sentences.

The first sentence gives us an expectation.

I have a friend or a colleague named Maya.

When I say, “I invited Maya to my wedding,” what do you expect?

You expect that she must have come to the wedding.

But then, I say, “She didn’t come.”

So, this result is surprising or unexpected.

The idea in the second sentence is opposite to the idea in the first sentence.

We call that contrast; to express this contrast clearly, we can do this: “I invited Maya

to my wedding, but she didn’t come.”

The word “but” is the simplest contrast word.

It’s very easy.

Instead of “but,” we have some other options, like “although.”

“Although I invited Maya to my wedding, she didn’t come.”

Notice here that “although” is used to set up the expectation.

It’s added to the sentence that gives us the expectation.

The advantage with “although” is that you can rearrange the parts of the sentence.

So, you can say: “Maya didn’t come to my wedding although I invited her.”

Here, the result is presented first, and the expectation comes second; this adds focus

to that expectation, but it means the same thing.

You cannot do this sort of rearranging with the word “but”, so “although” gives

you a little more flexibility in how you can arrange your sentences.

So, what about “though” and “even though”?

Well, they mean the same thing as “although”; “although” is the base word.

“Though” is a shortened form; we drop the letters “al” to make “though”.

Since it’s a shortened form, “though” is informal – we use it more in speech than

in writing.

“Even though” is a stronger form of “although”; it adds emphasis to what you’re saying.

“Even though I invited Maya to my wedding, she didn’t come”.

That shows you that I’m disappointed.

This next sentence shows I’m really disappointed: “Maya didn’t come to my wedding even though

I invited her.”

So, remember that “although” is the base word, “though” is informal, and “even

though” is stronger and adds emphasis.

But all three of these words mean the same thing.

Let’s talk about “however” now.

It has the same meaning as “but.”

For example, I can say, “I invited Maya to my wedding.

However, she did not attend it.”

This sentence is similar to the previous examples, but notice that I’ve said “did not”

instead of the short form “didn’t”.

Also, I’ve used the more formal word “attend.”

That’s because “however” is a formal word.

In fact, in this wedding situation, “however” is not a good fit, because in spoken language,

we don’t often use “however”:, it’s more common in writing.

So, let’s look at an example of written language using “however”.

To understand the example, you will need four vocabulary items: The first is “epidemic”.

This means a situation where a disease spreads rapidly (that is, fast), and infects a large

number of people.

Some examples are “a cholera epidemic”, “a flu epidemic”, “a typhoid epidemic”,

etc.

The second word is “outbreak”.

This refers to the sudden start of a disease.

In our example, the outbreak of the epidemic.

Next is “succumb”.

The “b” at the end is silent – so it’s pronounced “succumb.”

This is a formal, more academic word which means to die from a disease.

So, if a person succumbs to a particular disease, then they die because of that disease.

And finally, the last item is “to contain an outbreak, disease, or epidemic”.

This simply means to stop a disease from spreading.

Usually, this is done by government health agencies.

Once they have stopped the spread of a disease, they will announce that it has been contained.

So, here’s our sentence now: “There are reports that 10 more people have succumbed

to the epidemic this week.

However, the government continues to insist that the outbreak has been contained.”

So, there are reports, meaning that the media, the press, is saying that 10 more people have

succumbed to the epidemic, that is 10 more people, have died from the disease this week.

So, this is an ongoing epidemic.

It says 10 MORE people, so that’s in addition to the people who died previously.

Now the second sentence presents a contrasting idea.

However, the government continues to insist, that is, the government still says strongly,

that the outbreak has been contained.

Government officials are saying that they have stopped the spread of the disease.

So, the writer is claiming here that maybe the government is not telling the truth.

They’re trying to cover up, to hide the fact, that the disease is still spreading.

So, you can see that “however” has a much more formal feel around it.

Of course, we can also use our old friend, “but”: notice that the word “but”

has taken the place of “however” here.

Or although: “Although there are reports that 10 more people have succumbed to the

epidemic this week, the government continues to insist that the outbreak has been contained.”

If we want to indicate a strong contrast, we can use “even though” instead of “although.”

Now, looking at these sentences, it’s clear to me that “however” is the best choice

here.

Can you say why?

{Can you say why?}

Well, “but” and “although” combine two sentences into a single sentence.

In this case, that results in a huge sentence that you have to read from start to finish

and keep all that information in your mind.

But, the word “however” is not a conjunction; it’s an adverb.

It doesn’t combine two sentences.

Notice in the example with “however”, we have one sentence first.

Then there’s a period or full stop.

The reader can stop, take a breath, digest that information and then move on to the next

sentence.

That next sentence starts neatly with “however”, so the reader knows they’re going to find

the opposite idea to the first one.

So, “however” is part of the second sentence.

Being part of a sentence means that “however” is very flexible.

You can put it in the middle like this: “The government, however, continues to insist that

the outbreak has been contained”.

Note the two commas that separate “however” from the rest of the sentence.

It can also come at the end, “The government continues to insist that the outbreak has

been contained, however.”

These placements are all perfectly acceptable.

You cannot do this with “but” or “although”.

Alright, let’s turn now to the last topic: “despite” and “in spite of”.

Before I tell you how these are used, just know that they both mean the same thing.

“Despite” is the same as “in spite of”, so you can use them interchangeably, meaning

that you can choose whichever one you want to use.

Let’s take an example to understand these words: “Silvio made up his mind to buy the

expensive house even though his wife objected to it.”

“Objected” means that she said “no, don’t buy that house, it’s too expensive”

but did Silvio listen?

No, he really liked it, so he made up his mind (that is, he made the decision) to buy

the house, and he wasn’t going to change that decision.

Now, to me, the second clause “even though his wife objected to it” sounds a little

long.

I want to shorten it.

So, I’m going to write it like this: “Silvio made up his mind to buy the expensive house

despite his wife’s objections.”

Now, what’s the difference between the two sentences?

Notice that after “even though” (or “although”), we have a complete sentence – “his wife

objected to it” (this is a full sentence with a subject and a verb).

We call that an independent clause, but that just means it’s a complete sentence.

But, after “despite”, we just have “his wife’s objections” – the main word here

is “objections”, a noun.

“his wife’s objections” is a noun phrase, that is, the main word is a noun and the other

words “his” and “wife’s” are just giving us information about the noun.

So, the rule is, after “though”, “although”, or “even though”, you have to put a full

sentence.

But after “despite” or “in spite of”, you have to have either a noun phrase or an

-ing verb (that’s another option).

Like this: “Carmela took a job in Mexico City despite having little knowledge of Spanish.”

“having little knowledge of Spanish” is a verb phrase with an -ing verb: having.

Of course, in both sentences, you can use “in spite of” in the place of “despite”:

“in spite of his wife’s objections” or “in spite of having little knowledge

of Spanish”, and the meaning would be the same.

With “despite” and “in spite of”, you can rearrange the clauses: “Despite

his wife’s objections, Silvio made up his mind to buy the expensive house.”

“Despite having little knowledge of Spanish, Carmela took a job in Mexico City.”

These are perfectly acceptable.

So, remember that if you want to use a word of contrast with a noun phrase or with an

-ing verb phrase, then you use “despite” or “in spite of”.

With “although” or “even though”, you have to put a full sentence after them.

Alright, now, we’re going to take all this knowledge and apply it to some more situations.

We’ll take some examples, and we’ll go through them one by one; you will also learn

some useful vocabulary.

Alright I've got a Microsoft Word document open here and we're going to discuss six examples.

Now I will make this document available for you to download through a link in the description

so after you watch this lesson make sure to go and get this document and you can review

it in your own time.

Alright here's the first situation: John's parents wanted him to be a doctor.

John had his mind set on making it big as a pop singer.

Now, before we talk about how to connect these two sentences using words of contrast, let's

take a look at a couple of vocabulary items that you will need for this.

To have one's mind set on something means to be determined to do or to have something

and to make it big means to become very successful.

So here in this second sentence over here, John had his mind set on making it big as

a pop singer means that John was determined to become a successful pop singer.

Alright now I want you to stop the video and think about how you would connect these two

sentences using but though although even though however and in spite of and despite.

Stop the video, write out your sentences then play the video and continue.

Alright let's look at the answers.

But is quite easy: John's parents wanted him to be a doctor but he had his mind set on

making it big as a pop singer.

I'm sure you got that one right.

With though although and even though we have a couple of options: the first is to do this:

Although his parents wanted him to be a doctor John had his mind set on making it big as

a pop singer.

So you say although and then the first clause the expectation and then you follow that up

with the second clause the result.

Now here I want to share with you a common error that many people make.

Many people write the first clause correctly with although but then they add a but and

then present the result.

Tou can't do that; you can only use one of them you can use although or you can use but

but not both in the same sentence so I'm just going to strike that one out.

Remember that the second option is to reverse the order of the clauses so I have the result

first here and then although and then the clause that has the expectation, that's also

fine.

Now obviously instead of although in both of these options you can write though or even

though and that would also be correct.

However is also quite straightforward: John's parents wanted him to be a doctor.

However, he had his mind set on making it big as a pop singer.

You probably wrote it like this but there is a better option.

You remember I told you that you can place however at different points in a sentence?

So here's how I wrote it: John's parents wanted him to be a doctor.

He, however, had his mind set on making it big as a pop singer.

I really like this placement of however because it nicely highlights the contrast between

what John's parents want and what he wants so I really like writing it this way.

Now with in spite of and despite we have a problem here because we don't have a noun

phrase or an -ing verb phrase in the original sentence so you have to write it like this:

Despite the fact that his parents wanted him to be a doctor John had his mind set on making

it big as a pop singer so despite the fact that allows you it's a phrase and this phrase

allows you to write the first clause as it is as a full sentence so in this way it's

just like although so if I scroll up here you see here we've said although his parents

wanted him to be a doctor so although plus a full sentence and here we've got the exact

same form despite the fact that and then a full sentence so you will see this form a

lot especially in writing with despite the fact that.

You can also say in spite of the fact that and that would mean the same thing.

And just like with although you can reverse the order of the clauses and that is also

correct now out of all the options that we have here my favorite for this particular

situation is this one over here I'm going to give it a star and I'm going to highlight

it because I feel that out of all of these sentences this one does a very good job of

highlighting the contrast so this is my pick even though all of the others are also grammatically

correct.

Alright let's move on to example number two here's the situation the cheetah is the fastest

land animal on Earth that's on the one hand on the other hand the cheetah can only run

at top speed for about 30 seconds stop the video write out your sentences and then check

alright the sentence with but is very easy first clause but and then the second clause

now in this situation though this doesn't give us enough contrast so what you can do

is use although or even though although the cheetah is the fastest land animal on earth

it can only run at top speed for about 30 seconds sounds like something you might hear

on National Geographic now you can also reverse the order of the clauses but when I read it

I felt that even though worked the best if you reverse the order which is why I've put

even though here but there's nothing wrong if you want to use although when writing with

however I wanted to point this out in the first example as well remember to write the

first clause and then put a period or a full stop and end that sentence and then start

the next sentence with however using a capital H now however also works nicely in this sentence

because this is sort of a formal academic context and however fits in there very well

with in spite of and despite its really interesting because these words work very well here here's

how I wrote them despite being the fastest land animal on earth the cheetah can only

run at top speed for 30 seconds notice that I've said despite being so what I've done

is I've taken the main verb the cheetah is the fastest land animal so is is a form of

the verb be I've made being by adding ing to that verb and I've said despite being fastest

land animal on earth always remember that this is an option you can say despite or in

spite of that's also correct plus an -ing verb again you can reverse the order of the

clauses and put the clause with despite after the first clause now out of all these options

my picks are as follows I like this one with although or even though however is also something

that works well here as I said and despite plus the ing form so these three are all equally

good you can use any one of them and they work well alright let's go on to example number

three now here's the situation a simple one I've looked for my glasses everywhere I can't

find my glasses go ahead and write the sentences alright just by looking at these you should

be able to tell that this is an informal conversational situation and the best option is the simple

word but in fact I'm gonna star it right away I've looked for my glasses everywhere but

I can't find them it's simple and it works perfectly now I will show you the others but

I'm not going to read them out I'm going to make some comments though if you're going

to use though although or even though the word though works best because it's more informal

and conversational but these two however and despite and in spite of they sound very unnatural

so I'm actually going to strike them out they are grammatically correct but we would never

say these in conversation so you don't want to go and talk like this even these two sentences

sound somewhat unnatural but they're not too bad so I'm going to leave them as is but like

I said for this type of conversational situation but is the best option all right we go on

to example number four now here's the situation you will need some vocabulary for this but

I will go over that in a moment there is a proliferation of mobile phones tablets and

e-readers research shows that sales of print books are actually on the rise the word proliferation

means a great increase in the number or amount of something so there is a proliferation of

mobile phones means that there has been a great increase in the use of these devices

the phrase on the rise also means increasing but this is an adjective so research shows

that sales of print books are actually on the rise so the contrast here is there's a

proliferation of these devices so you expect that nobody reads print or paper books anymore

that's on the one hand on the other hand unexpectedly research shows that people are buying print

books more and more these days alright write out the sentences and then check all right

you notice that I don't have the option of the word but listed here that's because I

felt it doesn't really work well in this sort of academic context but you can use although

or even though you know the form already by now so I'm not going to read it out although

and then the first clause which gives us the expectation and in the second clause which

gives us a result with however again you know the form first clause period or full-stop

and then the second clause beginning with however but I actually have a problem with

this here because notice this first clause there is a proliferation of mobile phones

tablets and e-readers it sounds like we're announcing this to the reader as if they don't

know this information already so this doesn't sound very professional and I'm going to strike

it out I wouldn't use this the words in spite of and despite work very well the focus of

this first clause which gives us the expectation is the noun proliferation remember that after

despite or in spite of you can't put a noun phrase so here's how I wrote it despite the

proliferation of mobile phones tablets and e-readers research shows that sales of print

books are on the rise this is okay this is good but we can make this sound better by

removing this bit over here that research shows and we can put that right at the beginning

research shows that despite the proliferation of mobile phones tablets and e-readers sales

of print books are actually on the rise that sounds pretty good you can also reverse the

order of the clauses but I've told you that I like this one a lot and I'm going to star

and highlight it like that this to me is the best option here ok onward to example number

5 here's the situation there have been a slew of recent accidents in the factory the management

has yet to introduce any new safety measures the expression a slew of means a large number

or amount of something we use it with nouns like accidents or problems a slew of accidents

a slew of problems those are a couple of negative uses but you can also use this expression

positively for example there's a new phone out packed with a slew of features means it

has a lot of features or I might say my latest YouTube video got a slew of positive comments

of course you can also say negative comments but that hasn't been the case for me so far

knock on wood alright so the contrast here is there have been a lot of accidents in the

factory still the management has yet to introduce meaning the management has not yet introduced

any new safety measures to protect the workers alright write out the sentences ok the forms

of but although and however you know very well by now so I'm not going to belabor them

you can stop the video and you can read them if you want although I'm sure you got all

of them correct where I want to focus is in spite of and despite notice once again that

in the original sentence the focus is the noun slew so you can use despite or in spite

of you can do this despite a slew of recent accidents in factory the management has yet

to introduce any new safety measures now I want to show you another form that you will

often see with despite that's this there have been a slew of recent accidents in the factory

despite this the management has yet to introduce any safety measures this is a nice way of

expressing a strong contrast notice that in this use despite is acting very much like

however despite this the management refuses to introduce safety measures you can also

say in spite of this it means the same thing and this is actually my pick for this situation

alright let's move on now to the final example example number six there's a lot of vocabulary

to discuss here many young people have dreams of being successful entrepreneurs an entrepreneur

is a person who starts his or her own business few are prepared for the long hours the long

hours means that as a business person you might have to work not just nine-to-five but

beyond that as well for many hours every day the financial uncertainty uncertainty means

you can't be sure so one month your business might generate a profit another month it might

incur a loss so few are prepared for the long hours the financial uncertainty and the myriad

unforeseen challenges the word myriad means a great number of something it's just like

the phrase that we looked at previously a slew of so myriad is a great number unforeseen

means not expected or predicted the myriad unforeseen challenges are the many unexpected

challenges that are part and parcel of the self-employed lifestyle self-employed means

you work for yourself as a business person and part and parcel means included in something

cannot be separated from something so all of these challenges are part and parcel of

being a businessperson and few young people are actually prepared for all of these challenges

that is the contrast alright stop the video write out your answers then play the video

and continue alright using but is easy here as with the other examples just the first

clause but and the second clause pretty easy with although and even though this example

is a little different from the ones we've looked at previously because if you read these

two sentences over here you'll notice that we cannot say that one is an expectation and

the other is an unexpected result these two are just opposites so you can actually add

although or even though to either one you can put although here or you can put although

over here like this so you see here we've said although many people have dreams of being

successful entrepreneurs few are prepared for the long hours of financial uncertainty

and all the other challenges but you can also do this many young people have dreams of being

successful entrepreneurs although few are prepared for the long hours etc. both of these

are okay with however again you have a couple of options you either put the first clause

as a sentence on its own end it with a period and start the second clause with however or

you can say many young people have dreams of being successful entrepreneurs few however

are prepared for all the challenges this is also fine and this actually highlights the

contrast nicely now if you tried to write these two sentences with in spite of or despite

then you may have run into trouble because there isn't a clear noun phrase or an -ing

verb here so you would have had to say despite the fact that and then a certain clause and

that would have made the whole thing look quite unwieldy and very long and awkward so

for that reason I have not included in spite of and despite here I suggest that with long

large sentences like this you avoid the use of those expressions and use something simple

like however in fact I'm going to star and highlight this because I think this is simple

and captures the spirit of the sentence very well so this is my pick alright I hope you

enjoyed this lesson and learned a lot from it as always happy learning and I will see

you in another lesson soon.