I'm Arnel now from Arnel's Everyday English and today we're going to look at these step by step.

First, I'm going to make this easy. All of these have the same meaning.

They all show contrast.

What is contrast?

We have black, white, big, small, healthy, sick.

This is contrast.

So what's the difference? Well, the difference is in the grammatical structure.

How we use it, and formality.

In spite of + noun or gerund.

What's a gerund?

It's a verb + that ing.

I went jogging in spite of the rain.

Jogging? The rain? This shows contrast.

It means I didn't care about the rain, I still went jogging.

In spite of being underage, Tina went to a bar.

Underage? Bar?

That shows contrast, normally it doesn't fit.

A happens, B doesn't matter, or vice versa.

I went to work in spite of my cold.

Normally when people are sick, they don't go to work.

This shows contrast.

I got to work on time in spite of the bad traffic.

Normally when there's bad traffic, you don't get anywhere on time; this is a contrast.

You can replace in spite of with despite.

Despite + noun or gerund.

I went jogging despite the rain.

I don't care about the rain.

Despite it being underage, Tina went to a bar.

She doesn't care about the age... laws.

I went to work despite my cold.

I got to work on time despite the bad traffic.

Typical mistake: we do not use despite with of.

In spite of. Despite of, is not correct.

Choose in spite of, or, despite.

Grammar is just so exciting. Let's look at this in a bit more detail!

So, you can say in spite of, despite + noun or gerund.

Another option: in spite of/despite the fact that + clause.

What's a clause? There's a subject and the verb.

I absolutely love Disney Princesses despite the fact that I'm 30.

Contrast? Disney Princesses, 30.

Although, even though.

We can use although and even though in the front or mid position just like in spite of and despite.

Okay, so we have the front position.

Correct. And there's the mid-position.

Also correct.

In spite of/despite having a Chinese mother, I don't speak any Mandarin.

I don't speak any Mandarin in spite of/despite having a Chinese mother. They're both the same.

Even though/although Karin is only 12, she's very mature.

Karin is very mature even though/although she is only 12.

Although England is famous for drinking tea, many people love coffee.

There's my contrast, tea, coffee.

I went to watch the new Superman film with my friends, even though I really don't like those type(s) of movies.

Don't like, went to see.

You know, although the food wasn't very good, we really enjoyed that restaurant.

So what's the difference between although and even though?

The definition is the same, but even though is stronger.

It shows a greater contrast.

Although it's a little weaker.

I bought a new pair of shoes even though I can't afford it, I had to use my credit card.

What is can't afford?

You don't have the money.

Can you believe it?

John got the job even though he didn't have an interview.

I pretended to like the gift even though I didn't really.

Though. Though is more common in informal English, and many times it's used at the end of a sentence.

Yeah I had a good time at the restaurant, I didn't like the food though.

I didn't eat lunch, I did have an apple though.

I left work an hour early even though/although/though my boss told me not to.

Although? There's a contrast.

Even though, strong contrast.

Though, informal spoken English.

Fantastic, excellent.

Thank you so much for watching this video!

In the comments give me a sentence showing contrast and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE and I can't wait to see you for another lesson!