“although”, "even though", "despite", and "in spite of"都可以用来表达同一件事。换句话说，它们具有相同的含义。

“Although”和“even though”是连词，但“despite”和“in spite of”被认为是介词。但由于它们非常相似，因此有助于我们一起研究。

我们用这些来表示某事与其他事物相比令人惊讶、不寻常或出乎意料。

例句：Even though she studied hard, she failed the test. 

即便她努力学习了，她还是没通过考试

如果她努力学习，那么我们预计她会通过考试。但在这种情况下，情况恰恰相反。这个结果出乎意料。 “Even though”和“although”的用法相同，但“even though”更常见，语气也更强一些。

我们可以把“even though”或“although”放在句首或句中。

Even though + action, + unexpected resultUnexpected result + even though + action

Even though she isn't big, she is strong.

Even though it rained, they went hiking.

Even though many unfortunate things happened, they enjoyed their trip.

She smiled even though she lost the game.

We bought it even though it was really expensive.

He quit his job even though he didn't have another job lined up.

Although + action, + unexpected resultUnexpected Result + although + action

Although she is pretty, she doesn't have a boyfriend.

Although we discussed it for 5 hours, we didn't make a decision.

Although it looks good, it doesn't work well.

We will go to the party although we do not know anybody else who is going.

It didn't taste good although I followed the recipe.

注意："although"更常用在在句子的开头。

“Despite”和“in spite of”是介词，所以它们后面跟名词或动名词。

Despite + 名词/动名词, + unexpected resultIn spite of + 名词/动名词, + unexpected result

Despite the weather, we went on a picnic.

In spite of her age, she ran a full marathon.

Despite his injury, he played in the championship game.

In spite of their money, they are unhappy.

这些通常放在句子的开头，但也可以用在中间。

She is our friend despite her age. She is much younger than us.

在这些句子中，我们通常需要推断或假设一些东西：

Despite the weather, we went on a picnic.

这句话并没有告诉我们确切的天气情况。但我们知道去野餐是一件不寻常的事情。所以，从这句话，我们可以假设天气不好。

另一个例子：

In spite of their money, they are not happy.

我们可以假设他们有很多钱，因为我们认为有钱的人会快乐。但是“in spite of”和“despite”用于表示意想不到或令人惊讶的事情，说明即便他们很有钱，他们却不快乐。