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Although I called him, he gave me no answer.

If I rewrite it as "In spite of calling him, he gave me no answer", does it mean exactly the same as the original post? Thanks.

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    You need a subject for calling - "In spite of my caling him"- otherwise, the subject is taken to be the subject of the following clause, he.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Dec 25, 2015 at 16:08
  • @StoneyB Nice. I would've written what the OP wrote. I was thinking though, can you address to before the object pronoun him?
    – Schwale
    Commented Dec 25, 2015 at 17:27
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    @Subjunctive Call X is used for "place a telephone call to X"; call to X is used for "address X some distance away but in the same space".
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Dec 25, 2015 at 18:13
  • Despite my call to him... or the more verbose, Notwithstanding my call to him... would both suffice, however the end would change to, "...he gave no answer," as the me is then implied.
    – lurker
    Commented Dec 25, 2015 at 22:48
  • How about " In spite of my calling him, he gave me no answer/ In spite of me calling him, he gave me no answer"?
    – yethu
    Commented Dec 26, 2015 at 0:47

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You're making it sound like you deserve an answer simply because you dialed his number. Kind of presumptuous, no?

Even though I (I! me!) called him (the miserable ... useless ... worthless ... jerk) ... he had the audacity ... temerity ... insolence ... effrontery ... not to give me an answer! ...

Do consider the following:

I called and asked him, but I got no answer.
Even though I asked him when we spoke on the phone, I got no answer from him.
I phoned and asked him, very politely, I thought, and still he chose not to answer.

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I didn't consider it related to phone calls.

Although I called him... for dinner... he gave me no answer.

Although I called him... because he was next to be seen by the consultant... he gave me no answer.

I prefer...

Although I called him, he didn't reply.

I think 'in spite of...' has a very different connotation, namely to thwart or to annoy or to deliberately impede or frustrate.

I read the sentence as meaning 'I called and he didn't answer', without any suggestion of malice or negative attitude or nastiness.

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Using the proposed alternative of "In spite of calling...", makes the implication that the other party intentionally did not respond. If that is the case, then yes you could use the alternative.

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You could say:

In spite of me calling him, he gave me no answer.

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If you are using the word 'spite', whether it is 'despite' or any other form, then it is accusing. This describes your intention.

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