Re-write the following sentences according to the instructions given after each. Make other changes that may be necessary, but do not change the meaning of each sentence.
In spite of having high fever the girl came to school. (Begin: Despite ..................)
Topic: Transformation — 'despite'
Answer
Despite having high fever, the girl came to school.
"In spite of" and "despite" mean exactly the same thing, and the conversion is a straight substitution — with ONE critical difference: IN SPITE OF + noun or gerund DESPITE + noun or gerund (NO "of")
Writing "Despite OF having high fever" is the single commonest error in this construction, and it happens because the "of" belongs to the phrase being replaced.
Nothing else in the sentence changes. The gerund "having" stays, and so does the main clause.
Remember also that DESPITE is followed by a noun or a gerund, never by a full clause: "despite being ill", not "despite she was ill".
The same conversion appears in the 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2023 papers — six in all. Learn it once and it is free marks every time.