HI

[kurian]

I was inspired by the thread on misused words and so would like to know when to use:
Some/ Certain
in spite /despite

Kurian

[DanielScocco]

In spite and despite can be used almost interchangeably. Remember to put the "of" together with "in spite" though. Here are two correct examples:

We played the game in spite of the rain.
We played the game despite the rain.

[mishrap]

I would say :"Some" implies that the number is low. "Certain" doesn't imply anything about how many.
eg:There are certain countries… " when I know exactly which ones. Otherwise "There are some countries…" to imply that there are only a few of them but I don't know which.

Prachi