Johanna,

"Despite the weather" sounds normal to me.  My (old) American Heritage
dictionary gives "despite overwhelming odds."  Sometimes I wonder
whether the English language is coming unraveled.  In a few years, you
might need a translator to speak in the midwest.

David


On Tue, 22 May 2001, Johanna Rubba wrote:

> If 'despite' can behave like a preposition, why can't it take noun
> phrase complements?
> 
> *Despite the weather
> 
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