{"id":3016,"date":"2019-01-22T23:00:36","date_gmt":"2019-01-23T05:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=3016"},"modified":"2020-12-09T16:32:33","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T22:32:33","slug":"notwithstanding-can-we-withstand-confusion-of-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/definitions\/notwithstanding-can-we-withstand-confusion-of-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Notwithstanding,<\/em> Can We Withstand <\/em>Confusion of Meaning?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Developing a rich vocabulary through the reading and writing of English adds color to our thoughts, our speech, and our lives. Through a growing lexicon, we convey and connect to others with clearer intention and meaning using greater precision and eloquence.<\/p>\n

We also sharpen our ability to see relationships among words by understanding their roots, parts, associations, and meanings. This then allows us to identify, for example, the difference and the similarity between words such as\u00a0empathy<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0apathy<\/em>\u00a0(both are related to feeling [-pathy<\/em>] but opposite [a-<\/em>\u00a0means \u201cwithout\u201d;\u00a0em-<\/em>\u00a0means \u201cin, into, inside\u201d]).<\/p>\n

With this premise, we might then deem it simple to look at a word pair such as\u00a0withstand<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0notwithstanding<\/em>\u00a0and presume both their relation and their contrast. For instance, we might deduce that something\u00a0notwithstanding<\/em>\u00a0is something that does not or is counter to something that\u00a0withstands.<\/em><\/p>\n

That\u2019s not really the case, however\u2014even though it sounds easy enough to be true.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll start by looking at each word’s entry at\u00a0dictionary.com.<\/p>\n

Withstand<\/em>\u00a0is a verb meaning \u201cto stand or hold out against; resist or oppose, especially successfully.\u201d<\/p>\n

Examples<\/strong><\/em>
\nThe city council<\/em>\u00a0withstood\u00a0the campaign to overturn the parking ordinance.<\/em>
\nSo far the tarp is<\/em>\u00a0withstanding\u00a0the torrential downpour on the baseball diamond.<\/em><\/p>\n

Notwithstanding<\/em>\u00a0can function as a preposition (in spite of; without being opposed or prevented by), a conjunction (in spite of the fact that; although), or an adverb (nevertheless, anyway, yet).<\/p>\n

Examples<\/em><\/strong>
\nPreposition: Notwithstanding his lack of preparation, he scored an A on the test.<\/em>
\nConjunction: The football team rushed for almost 300 yards, <\/em>notwithstanding the field was in an especially shoddy condition.<\/em>
\nAdverb: They hardly know our qualifications. They hired our firm for the project <\/em>notwithstanding.<\/em><\/p>\n

(Note that because the meanings of notwithstanding<\/em> as an adverb and a conjunction are similar, their distinction is subtle. The nuance can be made clearer by the word\u2019s position in the sentence: Notwithstanding<\/em> appears at the end<\/em> in our adverb example and at the start<\/em> of its independent clause as a conjunction.)<\/p>\n

The definitions we\u2019ve identified let us rule out the reflexive assumption that \u201cnotwithstanding\u201d relates to \u201cnot resisting or opposing.\u201d Rather,\u00a0notwithstanding<\/em>\u00a0provides a milder connotation suggesting \u201cin spite of\u201d or \u201cnevertheless\u201d in the context of a contending force, condition, or circumstance. Separating\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0withstanding<\/em>\u00a0(or\u00a0withstand<\/em>) will, however, recast\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0as an adverb that negates the verb, establishing a phrase that means \u201cnot resisting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Example<\/em><\/strong>
\nThe makeshift fence is not withstanding the movement of the gathering crowd that wants to get closer to the music festival.<\/em><\/p>\n

As we continue reading and writing in expanding our communicative skills, we will come across other such instances that prompt further reflection on meaning and nuance. Taking the mental moments to do so will make us even more thoughtful and accurate in our application of all that English offers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/h2>\n

Using what you\u2019ve learned in this article, choose the correct word or phrase in the following sentences.<\/p>\n

1. The levee that\u2019s been built will [not withstand \/ notwithstand] the river\u2019s rising level.<\/p>\n

2. [Notwithstanding \/ Not withstanding] their number of turnovers in the game, they were able to force it into overtime.<\/p>\n

3. We will purchase the car you want, [withstanding \/ notwithstanding] it has more than 200,000 miles on it.<\/p>\n

4. I am [withstanding \/ notwithstanding] the urge to use some of the college fund for a trip to Hawaii.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n

1. The levee that\u2019s been built will [not withstand<\/strong>\u00a0\/ notwithstand] the river\u2019s rising level.<\/p>\n

2. [Notwithstanding<\/strong>\u00a0\/ Not withstanding] their number of turnovers in the game, they were able to force it into overtime.<\/p>\n

3. We will purchase the car you want, [withstanding \/notwithstanding<\/strong>] it has more than 200,000 miles on it.<\/p>\n

4. I am [withstanding<\/strong>\u00a0\/ notwithstanding] the urge to use some of the college fund for a trip to Hawaii.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Developing a rich vocabulary through the reading and writing of English adds color to our thoughts, our speech, and our lives. Through a growing lexicon, we convey and connect to others with clearer intention and meaning using greater precision and eloquence. We also sharpen our ability to see relationships among words by understanding their roots, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,10,12,48,33,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adjectives-adverbs","category-definitions","category-effective-writing","category-prefixes-and-suffixes","category-prepositions","category-verbs"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3016\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}