in spite of I am tired

[Phaedrus]

Yes. The same idea can be conveyed by sentences which are structured differently.

Indeed. Just to clarify how my suggestion relates to the others, hhtt21 asked the following question:

Would you please explain why "in spite of I'm tired" is incorrect?

"In spite of I am tired" is not just slightly incorrect; it is totally ungrammatical. There are two ways of fixing it:

1. We can correct "I am tired" and leave "in spite of."
2. We can correct "in spite of" and leave "I am tired."

You guys took the first approach. I took the second. Both are valid approaches. Both correct hhtt21's ungrammatical specimen. And both converge at the level of meaning.

 

[Matthew Wai]

"the first comma is optional" ?

It can be used in 'I think the first comma is optional'.
You still leave a space between a quotation mark and a question mark.

 

[Phaedrus]

The two are not identical in meaning.

Thanks, Piscean, but merely contradicting my assertion neither justifies that they differ in meaning nor explains how they differ in meaning if you are right that they do.

 

[Phaedrus]

Well, I think you're wrong in thinking that the two formulations aren't identical in meaning, no matter how many moderators here "like" that post of yours.

"Likes" don't form an argument, though they can have the effect of ganging up on someone.

 

[Phaedrus]

There are very few exact synonyms in English, i.e., words/phrases with identical meanings, Phaedrus.

But in certain sentences some words and phrases have exactly the same semantics, Piscean, even if distinctions between them are observable in other sentences.

"Even though I am tired" and "in spite of my being tired" are very similar in meaning indeed, but the second gives slightly greater stress to the contrast of ideas, in my opinion.

Thank you. I won't dispute that, even if I'm not sure I share your view. What I appreciate is having more than a bald contradiction. None of this is off-topic, incidentally. That the following two sentences are very close in meaning, if not exactly synonymous, is central to this thread:

(a) I have to go to school today in spite of my being tired.
(b) I have to go to school today even though I am tired.

*I have to go to school in spite of I am tired is just as ungrammatical as *I have to go to school even though my being tired. "I am tired" is a finite clause; "my being tired" is a noun phrase. A preposition like "of" or "despite" (or a compound preposition like "in spite of") can be complemented by a noun phrase but not by a finite clause. A complementizer or subordinating conjunction like "(even) though" can be complemented by a finite clause but not by a noun phrase.

 

[Matthew Wai]

This learner cannot see a difference in meaning between (a) and (b) in post #30.

 

[hhtt21]

I have to go to school, even though I am tired, because I have exams.

What is the difference between the above sentence and this:

"I have to go to school even though I am tired because I have exams."

P.S: The sentence was incorrect in the previous comparison.Thank you.

 

[GoesStation]

What is the difference between the above sentence and this:

"I have to go to school even though I am tired because I have exams."

P.S: The sentence was incorrect in the previous comparison.

Phaedrus added the commas the sentence needed. Without them, the reader's first impression is that your fatigue is due to the exams.

 

[hhtt21]

Phaedrus added the commas the sentence needed. Without them, the reader's first impression is that your fatigue is due to the exams.

Would it still be a correct sentence, which is conveying a different idea ?

Thank you.

 

[GoesStation]

The sentence we're discussing:

"I have to go to school even though I am tired because I have exams."

Would it still be a correct sentence, [STRIKE]which is[/STRIKE] conveying a different idea?

No. As I wrote above, the sentence needs the commas that Phaedrus added. It's wrong without them.

Remember not to put a space before punctuation that ends a sentence.

 

[hhtt21]

The sentence we're discussing:
No. As I wrote above, the sentence needs the commas that Phaedrus added. It's wrong without them.
Without them, the reader's first impression is that your fatigue is due to the exams

How can we form a sentence conveying the idea that one's fatigue is due to the exams, but with the same words, maybe just changing order?

Even though I am tired because of exams, I have to go to school because I have exams. I added a one more because to the sentence, but is it still idiomatic?

Thank you.

 

[GoesStation]

How can we form a sentence conveying the idea that one's fatigue is due to the exams, but with the same words, maybe just changing order?

Even though I am tired because of exams, I have to go to school because I have exams. I added a one more because to the sentence, but is it still idiomatic?

You're right, this sentence is unidiomatic, or just awkward. Perhaps this is something like what you're trying to say: We're in exams week. I'm bone tired from the exams I've already taken, but I have to go take another one today.

Note that we take exams in American English. Canadians and Brits sit them; I think Aussies, New Zealanders, and various other British Commonwealth-ers also sit exams.