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Concessives

Concessives are a class of subordinate clauses and constructions used to express a concession or counter-expectation. They tie the situation in the main clause to information in the concessive clause, which presents an obstacle, contrary condition, or contrast that does not prevent the main clause from holding.

In English, concessive clauses are typically introduced by although, though, even though, or even if; they may

Semantically, concessives express that the stated condition is outweighed or overridden by the main clause, and

Examples include: Although it was late, we finished the project; We went outside even though it was

also
appear
as
prepositional
phrases
such
as
in
spite
of
and
despite,
followed
by
a
noun
phrase
or
gerund.
Concessives
function
as
adverbial
clauses
and
can
occur
before
or
after
the
main
clause;
their
relation
is
one
of
concession:
the
main
clause
remains
true
despite
the
content
of
the
concessive
clause.
they
often
add
emphasis,
contrast,
or
polarity
to
the
assertion.
Languages
vary
in
how
they
encode
concession:
some
use
finite
conjunctions
(as
in
English),
others
rely
on
dedicated
concessive
particles
or
nonfinite
forms,
and
some
allow
explicit
phrases
such
as
despite
X
or
in
spite
of
X.
Across
languages,
concessive
constructions
show
broad
cross-linguistic
distribution
and
a
range
of
morphosyntactic
realizations.
raining;
Even
if
he
apologizes,
I
won’t
forgive
him.
These
illustrate
how
concessives
frame
a
situation
as
contrary
to
expectations
while
preserving
the
truth
of
the
main
clause.
See
also:
conjunction,
adverbial
clause,
conditionals.