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I was doing a grammar practice where we are to correct the grammatical error without changing the meaning when I came across this sentence:

Despite no one was hurt in this incident, about 70 shark attacks take place every year worldwide, some of which is fatal.

I changed was to being. However when I checked the answer sheet, the word changed was despite to although. Am I necessarily wrong here?

Laurel
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rain soupreme
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    Your suggested change results in a grammatical sentence. However, if the intention of the test was to check your learning of the correct use of conjunctions, then 'although' would be the answer desired. You missed another error: 'which **is** fatal' should be 'which **are** fatal', since 'accidents' is a plural noun. – Michael Harvey Oct 10 '22 at 07:54
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    I think your version makes sense; you could also say _Despite the fact that no-one was hurt_. However, _although_ makes the sentence simpler and easier to understand. NB It should be _are fatal_. – Kate Bunting Oct 10 '22 at 07:58
  • @MichaelHarvey Thanks. By the way, this is not a question from a random grammar book; It was a question set by Cambridge in the past. How do you think they will mark this then? So there are two answers? – rain soupreme Oct 10 '22 at 16:13
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    Your version is grammatical, but it doesn't really make sense. The 70 shark attacks don't really happen _despite_ the lack of hurt in the described incident. Using _although_ here is a better way of showing the contrast between the lack of hurt _this time_ and the fact that sometimes, sharks kill people. – Dawood ibn Kareem Oct 10 '22 at 20:22
  • @DawoodibnKareem But what if I say that since despite means 'without being affected by,' we can say that this incident's happenings is an anomaly and is not affected, as it is an isolated incident, by the fact that shark attacks happen more frequently than thought according to statistics. I feel like if we really push the envelope, despite is also valid? – rain soupreme Oct 11 '22 at 10:17
  • @DawoodibnKareem Not affected in the sense that it does not follow the general trend, not influenced by the general trend. – rain soupreme Oct 11 '22 at 10:20
  • @DawoodibnKareem I get it if it shouldn't be this way according to convention but to say it does not make sense it a bit off to me. By the way to respond to your second sentence why can't we say something like this: Despite no one dying while on the job today, about a million deaths do happen each year. Sounds fine to me? – rain soupreme Oct 11 '22 at 10:28
  • No, I'd use "although no one died ..." in that last example of yours too. As I said, the sentence with "despite" is grammatically correct, which I presume is what you mean by "also valid" in your last-but-two comment. – Dawood ibn Kareem Oct 11 '22 at 19:35
  • I feel mostly everyone is agreeing it doesn't make sense but no one is really explaining. Also, some do agree that despite makes sense. – rain soupreme Oct 12 '22 at 05:31
  • "Despite" suggests a causal relationship that is being ignored. Despite his hunger, he went to work. His hunger could have caused him not to, but he went to work anyway. It's a subtle distinction. – Daniel Wilson Oct 12 '22 at 11:21

2 Answers2

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Your edit is grammatical and natural. The creator of the practice questions intended for you to fix "despite", but you found a different way to correct it that they didn't anticipate.

gotube
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You are not wrong. Both are correct. 'Despite' is a preposition and 'Although' is a conjunction.

We can use Despite + (verb + ing).

We use Although + clause

Despite no one being hurt in this incident, about 70 shark attacks take place every year worldwide, some of which are fatal.

Although no one was hurt in this incident, about 70 shark attacks take place every year worldwide, some of which are fatal.

Mohammad Farukh Ahmad
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    I'd add: *Despite **the fact that** no one was hurt in this incident, about 70 shark attacks take place every year worldwide, some of which are fatal.* – Darrel Hoffman Oct 10 '22 at 18:50
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    Or just *Despite **that** no one was hurt*... – Lee Mosher Oct 10 '22 at 20:05
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    Or, “**Even though** no one **was** hurt, ....” – Davislor Oct 10 '22 at 23:09
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    Also, you changed "which is fatal" to "which are fatal" – justhalf Oct 11 '22 at 11:28
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    @LeeMosher: "Despite that" sounds completely wrong to me (a Brit). Perhaps it's a North American usage? – TonyK Oct 11 '22 at 18:09
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    @TonyK It sounds wrong to me too (an American). – DLosc Oct 11 '22 at 19:55
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    I think it's critical to note that, while both sentences are fully grammatical, they don't _mean_ exactly the same thing. The second sentence, with "although," works slightly better semantically for me, but I'm not really happy with either. I'd really prefer something more like "Although no one was hurt in this incident, some of the about 70 shark attacks that take place every year worldwide are fatal." – Andrew Ray Oct 11 '22 at 20:26
  • @Lee Mosher Despite the fact that no one was.../In spite of the fact that no one was... – Mohammad Farukh Ahmad Oct 12 '22 at 03:44
  • @Davislor 'Even though' is stronger than 'although'. – Mohammad Farukh Ahmad Oct 12 '22 at 03:45
  • @justhalf ...... , of which fatal. – Mohammad Farukh Ahmad Oct 12 '22 at 03:50
  • @AndrewRay I think the issue with the sentence is that it says "despite no one being *hurt* in this incident", but then goes on to say that "some [shark attacks] are *fatal*". It doesn't address how many attacks merely result in *injury*, but it seems like it should, unless the implication is that shark attacks *always* result in injury, in which case "this incident" would not be a shark attack, but maybe just a shark encounter. It might make more sense in context, but as a standalone sentence it has issues. – Herohtar Oct 12 '22 at 16:09
  • @Herohtar As I think more, I realize I'm not happy with "despite" after all. "Despite" is used to introduce an idea that appears to countervail the main idea, which isn't happening here. "Although," on the other hand, introduces an idea to be contrasted with the main idea. I think the idea that nobody was hurt this time sufficiently contrasts with the idea that some attacks are fatal, to merit an "although," but I want the latter idea to be raised into the matrix clause, because the use of "although" to highlight the distinction opposes the use of a relative clause to minimize the same idea. – Andrew Ray Oct 12 '22 at 17:08
  • @MohammadFarukhAhmad yes, my point is that the "being" part is not the only error in the original sentence, which you have corrected, but not mentioned. – justhalf Oct 12 '22 at 17:26