in spite of

Fill in the blanks with the following words. There may be more than one right answer.

as a result of despite even so in order to whereas

1. ___ ensure everything goes to plan, please read all instructions carefully.

2. ___ recent cutbacks, Marketing and Sales will be merged into one department.

3. Mary and Jeff feel we need to reduce personnel expenses, ___ I believe we should take more people on!

4. I agree with you about that; ___, I’m not going to approve it.

5. Valerie sent the report out, ___ my strict instructions not to.