[Grammar] in spite of

[beachboy]

He bought the tickets, but he didn't watch the film.
In spite of buying the tickets, he didn't watch the film.

Could I also say "In spite of not watching the film, he bought the tickets", without a change in meaning? It sounds awkward to me.

 

[bhaisahab]

Your sentences with "In spite of" are incorrect. You could use "despite" in sentence #2. The third sentence is not possible.

 

[beachboy]

I thought "in spite of" and "despite" were synonyms....

 

[bhaisahab]

No, they aren't.

 

[beachboy]

So how can I finish this sentence, and make it grammatically right and meaningful: "In spite of buying the tickets, ________________________"? I thought "in spite of" suggested contrast.

 

[bhaisahab]

You can't. As I said before, use "despite buying". Where did you find that sentence?

 

[beachboy]

I just happened to come up with it. But I can't figure out the difference between "in spite of" and "despite", as some books say they're synonyms. So, I don't know how to use them. To my knoledge, I thought the preposition "in spite of" had the same meaning as the conjunction "although", so I could easily say " Although he bought the tickets, he didn't watch the film". But now I'm not sure....

 

[bhaisahab]

You can certainly use "although" in that sentence. You cannot use "in spite of buying".

 

[Johnyxxx]

But I can't figure out the difference between "in spite of" and "despite", as some books say they're synonyms.

Strange, my dictionaries and textbooks also say in spite of and dispite and despite of mean the same thing ...

Like you, I thought they were synonyms.

 

[beachboy]

I don't think "despite of" exists, but I still don't know the difference between the other two....

 

[emsr2d2]

Strange, my dictionaries and textbooks also say in spite of and dispite and despite of mean the same thing ...

Like you, I thought they were synonyms.

Can you name those dictionaries and textbooks for us please, especially the ones which use "dispite" and "despite of"?

 

[Johnyxxx]

Dispite should have been desipte, of course. My fault.

PC Translator, for example. It is a software that has won several IT awards and costs cca. 330 British Pounds so one would expect it to be a reliable source of information. I do not use it but I use the voluminous virtual dictionary it contains. If you enter in spite of, despite of or despite, the dictionary shows they mean one and the same thing.

http://img41.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=94814_4444_122_518lo.jpg

 

[Boris Tatarenko]

Would you mind taking a look at this site https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/quick-grammar/spite-despite-although ?

There's an example of "despite of" however I'm absolutely sure that it's a bad mistake. :roll: What would you say?

 

[Boris Tatarenko]

Dispite should have been desipte, of course. My fault.

PC Translator, for example. It is a software that has won several IT awards and costs cca. 330 British Pounds so one would expect it to be a reliable source of information. I do not use it but I use the voluminous virtual dictionary it contains. If you enter in spite of, despite of or despite, the dictionary shows they mean one and the same thing.

http://img41.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=94814_4444_122_518lo.jpg

If I were you, I wouldn't use this dictionary at all. I highly suggest using such dictionaries as Oxford and Cambridge and so on because they're deemed to be reliable sources of information. For example, on the following web-page you can see the difference between "in spite of" and despite". Moreover you can see how to use these words correctly (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/in-spite-of-and-despite)

Not a teacher nor a native speaker.

 

[beachboy]

I've read many dictionaries and grammar books. And I still don't understand why "Although he bought the tickets, he didn't watch the film" and "Despite buying the tickets, he didn't watch the film" are grammatically right, but "In spite of buying the tickets, he didn't watch the film' isn't. The source mentioned above confirms the two prepositions are the same, or basically the same, if you prefer.

 

[Johnyxxx]

For example, on the following web-page you can see the difference between "in spite of" and despite".

And the page below says,"Despite means the same as in spite of." And it also says, "Don't say despite of" so it seems the info in my virtual dictionary is really wrong, at least in case of despite of. :-?

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/despite