OG12 SC72 despite的用法

saffsa761

More and more in recent years, cities are stressingthe arts as a means to greater economic developmentand investing millions of dollars in cultural activities,despite strained municipal budgets and fading federalsupport。
此题，despite strained municipal budgets and fading federal support是不是做状语成分，修饰前面的句子？请各位指点？里面还包含了过去分词strained与现在分词fading的平行，我刚开始认为despite后面只能接that。

SharonZ0902

有个问题：你把investing前面的and 弄掉了。
despite引导状语从句在这里修饰前面的句子，并且despite后面不是只能接that
prep183
Despite recent increases in sales and cash flow that have propelled automobile companies' common stocks to new highs, several industry analysts expect automakers, in order to conserve cash, to set dividends more conservatively than they were
A.    to set dividends more conservatively than they were   
B.    to set dividends more conservatively than they have been  
C.    to be more conservative than they have been in setting dividends
D.    that they will be more conservative than they were in setting dividends
E.    that they will be more conservative than they have been to set dividends
前面部分despite所起的作用和这道题类似，不过后面接连了定语从句稍微复杂一点

fatmoe

lz说的不错，我感觉确实是做状语成分修饰前面的stressing 和investing吧。不过过去分词strained与现在分词fading不是平行的，它们只是做修饰语修饰municipal budgets和federal support，然后strained municipal budgets 和 fading federal support 是相互平行的。

mudiduange

despite 后面接名词成分，过去分词strained和现在分词fading 都是定语修饰名词，despite 后面接that从句也是作名词成分。