Exploring concession and contrast

Exploring concession and contrast In this post we look at the difference between concession and simple contrast, and at the various words and expressions we can use to express concession

Exploring concession and contrast

In this post we look at the difference between concession and simple contrast, and at the various words and expressions we can use to express concession and contrast As well as information about these, there are ten exercises to give you plenty of practice

Getting more advanced

 while, whilst, whereas

 nevertheless, however, even so, all the same

 much as

 no matter how / what etc

 however, whatever, whoever etc

 adjective + as / though

 but still, but even so, but all the same

 (and) yet

Even more exotic

 when, if, albeit

 may but

 Contrastive emphasis with auxiliaries

We'll also look briefly at 'reducing' concession clauses, at fronting concession clauses and at something called Yes, But arguing

Introduction - the difference between contrast and concession

Look at these two sentences

 Mary prefers coffee, but Peter prefers tea

 Although Mary usually prefers coffee, today she's drinking tea

The second sentence is an example of concession, when something unexpected

happens - Mary's drinking tea today - even though we have conceded something else - that is to admit that something else is true - that Mary usually prefers coffee

Note - with simple contrast, we are usually comparing a similar aspect of two different

people, things or situations With concession, we are often contrasting two different aspects of the same person, thing or situation

Ex 0 - introductory exercise - Contrast or concession?

Whether something expresses concession or contrast is open to interpretation, so the answers in this first exercise reflect my ideas, not necessarily some golden rule

Simple Contrast

Concession

1 Sally is blonde, but her sister is brunette

2 Although Sally originally wanted to become a lawyer,

she finally decided on a career in medicine

3 This plan is fraught with problems Nevertheless, I think

we should go ahead with it

4 Mark's idea would be quite expensive Sandy's,

however, sounds relatively cheap

5 In spite of the crisis, this sector of the economy has

been doing quite well

6 The South of England is relatively flat The North, on the

other hand, is much hillier

7 He's not the greatest conversationalist Mind you, he is

rather good-looking

8 In Geneva, most people speak French, whereas in Zurich

they mainly speak German

9 Recent sales have been disappointing However, this

month is looking rather better

10 Much as I trust your judgement, this time In think we'll

do it my way

Contrast clause or concession clause (aka Concessive clause)? A short note

Look at these two example sentences adapted from a grammar book:

 Although everyone was tired, they kept going until it got dark

(= concession - their action is slightly surprising given their tiredness)

 Although they accepted some of his recommendations, they rejected others (= contrast - between accepting some recommendation and rejecting others)

Some books for learners would call the first clause in both of these sentences

concession clauses Others would call them both contrast clauses This particular book calls the first one a concession clause and the second a contrast clause, but not many books make that distinction

There is not a big difference between contrast and concession, and a lot of the

examples we'll be looking at express both concession and contrast to varying degrees It's an area where even linguists have problems: in one academic paper, the writer calls concession a 'fuzzy' (not clear, confused) concept, so it's not worth getting too worried about the difference

Section 1 - the basics

1a Expressing concession with although, though, even though

The usual way of talking about concession is to have a clause starting with although,

though and even though, which are are (subordinating) conjunctions (sometimes called

subordinators) The concession clause can come before or after the main clause

 Although Mary usually prefers coffee, today she's drinking tea

 Mary's drinking tea today although she usually prefers coffee

Although and though are synonymous, but although is probably more common in

writing while though is thought to be more informal

 Although/though it had started to rain, we decided to go for a walk

 He said he'd be on time although/though I doubt it, knowing him

Even though is stronger and more emphatic than though and although, and is usually

stressed when speaking

 Even though I knew I shouldn't, I had another of her delicious cakes

 They were late even though they had taken a taxi

Sometimes it only makes sense to use although etc with only one part of the sentence

It must make sense for the main clause to logically follow on from the concession clause:

 Although I was rather tired, I decided to stay up to see the late movie

I was rather tired, although I decided to stay up to see the late movie

But sometimes you have a choice, depending on your point of view:

 Although the film was a bit long, it was quite enjoyable

Although the film was quite enjoyable, it was a bit long

Though as an adverb

Note that we can also use though (but not although and even though) as an adverb, to

mean 'however' In this use it can also come at the end of the sentence

 That's what she says, but what she really thinks, though, I have no idea

 We'd better be going - We've still got plenty of time, though

Exercise 1a Complete the sentences

Use although + a sentence from the box, as in the example

we don't know them very well we'd never met before

there was a light on upstairs I really like her

we live in the country she never went to university

we took a taxi

Eg Although we took a taxi , we were still late

1 , he sounds really interesting

2

, life is never dull

3 Nobody seemed to be at home

, she can be a bit distant sometimes

1b Expressing concession with despite, in spite of

These have a similar meaning to although and also express concession But they are prepositions, so they can be only be followed by:

 a noun or noun phrase

In spite of the bad weather, we had a great time

 a pronoun

Everything seemed to go wrong, but we had a really good time in spite of it all

 an -ing form (gerund) or gerund phrase -

Despite telling him three times, he still forgot

If we want to follow them with a full clause (that's to say, subject + verb), we need to add 'the fact that',

 the fact that + clause

 In spite of the fact that she was pregnant, she kept working till the last

moment

 Despite the fact that it was raining, we went for a walk anyway

But this is rather formal and long-winded, and it's usually better to

use although instead:

 Although she was pregnant, she kept working till the last moment

 Although it was raining, we went for a walk anyway

There is no difference in meaning between despite and in spite of, but some people prefer to usedespite in writing, probably because it is shorter This Ngram graph shows how the use of despite is increasing in popularity in books, both British and American:

Exercise 1b Choose the best option

Click on your preferred option to underline it

1 Although / Despite the rain, it was a great afternoon

2 We had a great time though / in spite of it rained a bit

3 She passed her test easily although / despite not doing much revision

4 Although / Despite the salary wasn't great, she took the job

5 Although / Despite coming first, she felt she could have done better

6 Although / In spite of coming first isn't everything, it sure helps

7 I managed to get tickets although / despite the queue was rather long

8 I didn't manage to get very good seats although / , though

Exercise 1c - Convert from although to despite

Rewrite the sections in italics using despite and an -ing form

, he didn't play a strong role in the company

2 She always seemed to be short of cash, although she had plenty of money in the

bank

She always seemed to be short of cash,

, he didn't often come up with any useful ideas

Rewrite the sections in italics using despite and his/her/its + noun

, she was quite shy

5 We're going to buy this anyway, although it is expensive

We're going to buy this anyway,

, he never did

Section 2 - more advanced

2a While, (whilst) and whereas

The conjunction while is not only used to talk about time

As a conjunction, while is usually used to talk about a time relationship between two events:

 He washed up the dishes while she put the children to bed

 While he was washing up the dishes, the front doorbell rang

But while also has two other uses:

1 It can be used to express a contrast, especially when comparing the same aspect

of two different people, things or situations, etc The while-clause can come first

or second, but most commonly seems to appear second

 Italy is in the south of Europe, while Sweden is in the north

 While Sally has blue eyes, her sister has brown ones

2 We can also use while to express concession, when it can usually be replaced

by although In this meaning the while-clause always comes first (See note at end)

 While I understand your point of view, I'm afraid I have to disagree with you

 While results have been pretty good so far, we shouldn't get too complacent

Note - We need to make sure when using while for contrast or concession that there isn't any confusion with the time meaning:

 While Peterson scored the first two goals, the third was headed in by

Whereas

To some extent whereas has a similar meaning to while, but is a bit more formal and

is more common in written texts However, its use is more restricted than that

of while, in that it must always express a direct contrast between two situations Although we can put the whereas / while-clause first or second in this meaning, in the vast majority of examples I've found it comes second (see note at end), when it means something like but or 'when on the other hand'

 I believe in the Loch Ness monster, whereas / while my brother doesn't

 Whereas / While she likes jazz, I prefer opera

 He is quite tall, while / whereas his brother is rather short

Although whereas is always used to express a direct contrast between two

situations, sometimes this contrast can be surprising or unexpected in the context, in which case whereas can also be said to have a concessive function In these cases the whereas-clause usually comes first

This seems to be especially true when we contrast something that goes against the norm, against the majority, or against the trend, or when we point out a negative contrast In these cases, the whereas-clause often comes first:

 Whereas (While) more than ninety percent of British children go to state

schools, a recent study has shown that as many as 50% of the top jobs in the country are held by people who were educated at elite 'independent' (i.e private) schools

 Whereas (While) most of the party's MPs support the government on this

issue, a small handful are determined to vote against the party line

 Whereas (While) sales have been excellent for most of the summer, for some

reason we're not sure about, they declined in August

 Whereas (While) most patients recover from this illness fairly quickly, a few

develop complications, which can cause the illness to linger

Comparing although, while and whereas

On the other, it can refer to simple contrast with very little idea of concession:

 Although I get on well with Peter, I don't like his brother very much

2 While

Although while is usually used for simple contrast, we can often also use it in a very similar way toalthough When used with a concessive meaning like this, it should express some sort of contrast, but that contrast can be very soft, and not necessarily comparing two similar things

 While/Although we've only known each other a short time, we get on really well

Brian Garner, in Garner's Modern American Usage, calls while 'a more relaxed and conversational term than although or whereas'

3 Whereas

Whereas is the most restricted of the three, used to express a strong contrast

between two people, things or situations It can only be used to express concession when this strong contrast also exists:

 Whereas / While I've only known Mark for a short time, I've known his

brother for much longer

In this sentence, we are directly comparing two similar situations (how long I've known Mark compared with how long I've known his brother), so whereas is

possible There is a slight element of concession in that you might possibly expect me

to have known his brother for much the same time as I've known him

 While / Whereas we've only known each other a short time, we get on really well

But in this second sentence, we are talking about concession without any real idea of contrasting, and especially not of contrasting like with like, so whereas wouldn't work here

4 Summary

 although - mainly used for concession, with some overlap into contrast

 whereas - mainly for strong contrast, with some overlap into concession

 while - can usually be used for both concession and contrast

although

whereas while

There isn't a lot of information available about the exact differences in the use

of although, while andwhereas, so the answers in this exercise reflects my own interpretation of the differences between them You can read my comments after you've done the exercise

Exercise 2 Choose the word that fits best by clicking on it Sometimes both

answers are possible, so try and decide which the sentence expresses more strongly - concession (although / while), or contrast (whereas / while)

1 I see what you're getting at, I don't necessarily agree with you

8 in the past this type of information was only available to a few, now it is

available to anyone with an internet connection

If using while for concession, remember to put the while-clause first, but if it simply expressed contrast, I'd put it second

Tip

Both while and whereas would be good words to work into your written work (whereas is in the Academic Word List, for example) But until you get really familiar with it, I'd reserve whereas for pure contrast, and put the whereas-clause second

3 Even though and even if

As we've seen, even though is a stronger version of although and means despite the

fact that Even if, however, introduces a condition, and is more like whether or not

 Even though he's busy, I think you should ask him

= Despite the fact that he's busy,

I know that he's busy - we know that the information in the concessive clause is true

 Even if he's busy, I think you should ask him

= Whether or not he's busy,

I don't know for sure whether he's busy or not - the information in the concessive clause may be true, but we don't know for certain

Click on your preferred option to underline it

1 She stayed out late even though / even if I told her to be back early

2 Even though / Even if they win, they can't get through the next round

3 He agreed to meet them even though / even if he knew that it was pointless

4 I really enjoyed the film, even though / even if I don't usually like Westerns

5 It's worth going for the interview, even though / even if they turn you down

6 We're going for a walk later even though / even if it doesn't clear up

7 Even though / Even if we've met a few times, I don't know him very well

8 Even though / Even if we did turn up a bit late, it wouldn't really matter

4 Other ways of introducing an unexpected contrast

4a Conjunctive adverbs and adverbials

We can also express contrast and concession with adverbs and adverbial

expressions In writing, these adverbs and adverbial expressions usually start a new sentence, or follow a semicolon or dash ( - ), and are themselves followed by a comma

Contrast

My wife likes the mornings best I, however, prefer the evenings

 on the other hand

The West coast is quite wet On the other hand, it is also quite warm

 in contrast

The West coast is quite wet In contrast, the east coast is much drier

In contrast to the east coast, the west coast in quite wet

Concession

 nevertheless, nonetheless (more formal)

We'd seen the film before Nevertheless, my wife wanted to watch it again

I'd rather have watched the football - however, I agreed to watch the film

 even so

It was a quite good film Even so, I'd have preferred to watch the football

 all the same

I quite enjoyed it; all the same, I prefer something a bit more lively

We can also put however and nevertheless at the end of the second sentence or clause

 My wife likes the mornings best I prefer the evenings, however

 We'd seen the film before My wife wanted to watch it again, nevertheless

Tip

Advanced foreign learners no doubt already use however and on the other hand, but

if you don't already do so, now would be a good time to add nevertheless and in

contrast to your armoury They are especially useful in academic writing

4b Much as + subj + verb

We can use much as, to mean even though, with verbs like love, hate etc

 Much as I like her, this is going too far

(even though I like her)

 OK, I'll do the washing up, much as I detest it!

(even though I detest it)

See also the section on as as

4c It doesn't matter / no matter how /what etc

We can use it doesn't matter how/what etc, or no matter how/what etc, instead

of even though

 It didn't matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't do it

 No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't do it

 (Even though he tried very hard)

4d however, whatever, whichever

We can also use however, whatever etc in a similar way to no matter how/what etc

 however + adjective

However tired she was, she always managed to cook a meal

 however + adverb

He just couldn't manage, however hard he tried

 however much / many

I'm not changing my mind, however much you ask me

However many times you ask me, the answer will still be no!