Three tricky words for students who speak English as a second language are ‘although’, ‘despite’ and ‘whereas’.
‘Although’ and ‘whereas’ are conjunctions, which means they’re used to join two ideas together; ‘despite’ is typically a preposition, so it indicates the relationship between words in a sentence.
While proofreading, we often see these words used incorrectly, so today we’ll clear up the confusion!
Although
The word ‘although’ is a conjunction used to show that something is surprising or unexpected under the circumstances. For example:
Although Jane was a good student, she hasn’t found a job yet.
The ‘although’ here mean ‘despite the fact that’. The surprise in this case is because we expect good students to find work. Instead of using ‘although’, we could use the phrase ‘even though’ in exactly the same way.
It can also be used to mean ‘but’, such as in the sentence:
I love grammar, although it is difficult.
Here, we use ‘although’ in the second clause to qualify the first one.
Despite/In Spite Of
The phrase ‘in spite of’ and the word ‘despite’ are used to mean ‘without being affected by’. Like ‘although’, it can be used to suggest an unexpected relationship between two clauses:
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In spite of Jane being a good student, she hasn’t found a job yet.
The implication here is the same as above: i.e. that the second clause (about not finding a job) is unexpected due to the information introduced via ‘in spite of’ (Jane being a good student).
But since this word is not a conjunction, it cannot be used in place of ‘but’.
Whereas
‘Whereas’ is a conjunction used to contrast two things:
The table was too small to fit by the window, whereas the rocking chair fitted perfectly.
Unlike the other terms here, ‘whereas’ does not necessarily imply that something is surprising.
For instance, there is no connection between the sizes of tables and rocking chairs, so there is no reason to assume that the chair would not fit just because the table was too large. We are simply making a comparison.
Good luck! Just remember, if you are unsure about any of these words, one of our proofreaders will be able to help.