三分鐘弄清楚 though / although / even though / despite / in spite of

2016-09-06 全民學英文編輯

編輯/林以晨

很多人寫英文的文件或是作文時，常犯的其中一種錯誤叫做「中式英文」，而這種問題通常源自於字義解釋上的模糊，而這種狀況就是有很多個英文單字，用中文翻譯起來是一樣的意思。在這些字中，最讓人混淆的就是 though / although / even though / despite / in spite of，這五個的英文意思都是「雖然…」，但是其中還是有一些不同之處，因此，英文老師 Adam 在 Engvid 上介紹了如何分辨這一組相似字。

一般來說，我們會將 though / although / even though 放在同一類，而 despite / in spite of 則放在一起。

1. though / although / even though + 副詞子句（S + V）

though：這是一個相對不正式的用法，除了放在句首，也可以放在句末。

although：它和 though 是一樣的意思，也有近乎一模一樣的用法，但是要注意的是，although 不可以放在句末。

even though：可以看到這個詞組多了一個字「even」，特別強調所連接的副詞子句，語意上通常用在強調「（落空的）期待」。

2. despite / in spite of + 名詞

despite 與 in spite of 的用法與語意基本上完全一樣，這兩個可以互相代換。

 

e.g Although the exam was difficult, I think I did well.

= I think I did well although the exam was difficult.

although 可以放在句首或是句中，但是要注意放在句中實，前面不需要打上逗號。

e.g I think I did well though the exam was difficult.

= Though the exam was difficult, I think I did well.

= The exam was difficult. I think I did well, though.

though 與 although 用法一樣，但是 though 可以放在句尾，要注意的是，如果要把 though 放在句尾，前面主要子句以及副詞子句必須拆成兩個獨立的完整句子。

e.g Even though the exam was easy, I failed.

這裡可以看到使用 even though 時，特別強調「（落空的）期待」。

e.g Despite his best efforts, the man just couldn’t succeed.

= The man just couldn’t succeed despite his best efforts.

= In spite of his best efforts, the man just couldn’t succeed.

= The man just couldn’t succeed in spite of his best efforts.

despite 與 in spite of 用法一樣，可以放句首或句中，後面接上名詞。

e.g Despite being on time to the lecture, we were still not admitted.

因為 despite / in spite of 詞性是介係詞，後面只能接上名詞或是動名詞。

圖片來源：Domas