Could you tell me the difference between the expressions?
Thank you…So, regardless of has a neutral meaning while despite has a bad meaning?
‘Despite’ doesn’t necessarily have a ‘bad/negative’ meaning. It can work both ways.
Despite being in a wheelchair she is a better netball player than most able bodied people.
She is a better netball player than most able bodied people regardless of the fact that she is in a wheelchair.
Despite putting in a lot of studying he failed his exam.
He failed his exam despite putting in a lot of studying.
Regardless of the fact that he put in a lot of studying, he failed his exam.
He failed his exam regardless of the fact that he put in a lot of studying.
Yes. But what you wrote all implied a thing prevented the other from happening. While ‘regardless of’ can be used non restrictedly, ‘despite’ can’t.
That doesn’t make it ‘negative’.
What do you mean? So, could you help me to choose the sentence that has the same meaning as the original one?
We must continue our effort whether there are difficulties.
A. …despite having difficulties.
B. …regardless of whatever difficulties we have.
What do you propopse I should use where you have supplied dots?
Despite having difficulties we must continue our efforts.
Regardless of the difficulties we have we must continue our efforts.
Both of these mean more or less the same thing.
The first emphasises the continuation of the efforts, the second emphasises the difficulties faced.
Yes I know. But which one has the same meaning as the original? Only…regardless of…right?
The original sentence is not correct.
Perhaps the original should be one of these:
We must continue our effort whether there are difficulties or not.
We must continue our effort whether or not there are difficulties.
In that case:
We must continue our effort despite having difficulties.
We must continue our effort regardless of difficulties.
We must continue our effort regardless of any difficulties (we might have).
- all have the same meaning as the original.
Hi Bookaholic,
As Bev has already mentioned, your original sentence needs ‘or not’ in combination with ‘whether’.
The use of ‘regardless of’ is not what makes B closer in meaning. It is first and foremost the word ‘whether (or not)’ in the original and the word ‘whatever’ in option B that makes option B a little closer in meaning to the original. Even so, the meanings are not exactly the same. The use of ‘whether’ means there may possibly be difficulties OR there may not be any difficulties at all. The word ‘whatever’ refers to any possible type of difficulty/difficulties – any difficulties, no matter whether the difficulties are minor or major.
The use of ‘having difficulties’ in option A simply refers to the fact that difficulties exist.
In addition, you cannot say “despite whether there are difficulties or not”, but you CAN say “despite whatever difficulties (there are/there might be)”.
[color=white].
Hi Bee, I think the ‘or not’ part only makes the original sentence more complete as it’s grammatically correct itself. Can’t we leave out ‘or not’ in the structure with ‘whether’?
Sorry Yankee. I don’t see that I typed anything like ‘despite whatever difficulties we have’ in that previous post of mine. After consulting some dictionaries, I’ve found out that ‘whether’ and ‘regardless of’ do have similarities in meaning. Whether or whether…or not means we may or may not have something and regardless of also means that. In contrast, despite+V-ing means we have difficulties. What do you think?
I think you did not understand my post. 
The information you said you “found out” from dictionaries is basically the same as what I wrote in my last post.
No, you didn’t. I added that in order to point out a difference in usage between ‘despite’ and ‘regardless of’ since you had asked about those two.
[quote="Bookaholic_English"]
I think the 'or not' part only makes the original sentence more complete as it's grammatically correct itself.
[/quote]
If I am not mistaken, the sentence you are referring to is this one:
- [i]We must continue our effort whether there are difficulties. [/i]
That sentence definitely needs 'or not'. It is extremely [u]unnatural[/u] without 'or not'. Like Beeesneees, I consider it to be incorrect without 'or not'.
[color=white].
'Whether' can be used without 'or not' in sentences with negation such as the following:
- I don't know whether he is planning to come.
'Whether' can also be used without 'or not' in sentences that express doubt or ask/report questions. For example:
- She wasn't sure whether she would be fired for what she had done.
- I doubt whether pointing out the error would have made any difference.
- Do you know whether he is planning to come?
- She wondered whether he would be on time.
In the sentences I've listed above, the word 'whether' would often be replaced by 'if' in everyday English. There is no change in meaning.
In contrast, your original 'whether' sentence is not like any of the examples I've listed above, and you cannot simply replace 'whether' with the word 'if' without a significant change in meaning. Compare:
- [i]We must continue our effort whether there are difficulties or not.[/i] = We must continue in both situations: if there are difficulties AND also if there are not any difficulties.
- [i]We must continue our effort if there are difficulties.[/i] This suggests that if there are not any difficulties, then we need not continue our efforts.
[color=white].