BBC news 2010-07-12 加文本

1.The Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan says he doesn't intend to resign despite his government suffering a setback in elections for the upper house of parliament.

In spite of或despite之后必须用名词或动名词（gerund），不能接普通子句（clause），例如不可说“Despite the public is getting increasingly discontented”只能说“Despite the fact that the public is getting increasingly discontented”。不过，in spite of/despite the fact that这句式虽然正确，却嫌累赘，最好用although一字取代，例如：“Although the public is getting increasingly discontented, the government is determined to push the bill through.”
英文有in spite of/despite oneself这说法，意思是“不由自主”或“不禁”，例如：“Her words were so satirical that I lost my temper in spite of myself.（她的话尖酸刻薄得令我忍不住发脾气。）”
留意spite这个字单独使用时，往往解作“恶意”，和in spite of不同，例如：“She did it out of spite.（她那样做是出于恶意的。）”

2.Mr Obama's call which echoed the Serbian President Boris Tadic came as thousands of mourners marked the 15th anniversary of the massacre by Bosnian Serb forces of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys.

这句话的主语和谓语是：Mr Obama's call came。which echoed the Serbian President Boris Tadic是定语从句，修饰call。as引导时间状语从句。

3.I'm pretty confident where he is. I think he's being protected by renegade elements, not under the state but renegade elements of the Serbian security services.

fairly, quite, rather, pretty用法区别

这四个词在用法上还有几点值得注意：

1)只有rather一词能和比较级及too连用, fairly, quite, pretty却不能。如：rather warmer, rather too sure(有点太自信)，quite可用在better前，指病完全好了。
2)quite和rather都可以用在冠词前，也可和动词连用，pretty和fairly则不能。如：quite a good film，rather a good idea, I quite like her.或I rather enjoy doing nothing.
3)quite, fairly,和rather也可放在a/an后，但名词前必须有形容词时。如：a quite good film, a fairly interesting lecture, a rather good idea。
4)一些“没有程度差别”的词，如：perfect, impossible, dead, 不能fairly, rather, pretty连用，但可以和quite连用，表示completely或absolutely(完全)的意思。如：quite exhausted(精疲力尽)，quite perfect（好极了）。
5)可以说：It’s quite the same. 但不能说：It’s not quite the same.