Unsure what "closer to" signifies in the lesson

Anne D.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Unsure what "closer to" signifies in the lesson

The preposition malgré is closer to despite, whereas the expression en dépit de is closer to in spite of.

I found this sentence a bit confusing as the pairs of words are described as interchangeable (and certainly are in English, apart from despite being a bit more formal) - does that "closer to" just mean that one of the pair is a single word and the other a prepositional phrase?

Asked 4 months ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Anne, 

Thank you for this comment, after discussion we have changed it to 'equivalent to'.

I hope you like it better.

Bonne Continuation !

Anne D. asked:

Unsure what "closer to" signifies in the lesson

The preposition malgré is closer to despite, whereas the expression en dépit de is closer to in spite of.

I found this sentence a bit confusing as the pairs of words are described as interchangeable (and certainly are in English, apart from despite being a bit more formal) - does that "closer to" just mean that one of the pair is a single word and the other a prepositional phrase?

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