Fill in the blank with a suitable preposition.
________ practicing so hard the team lost in the finals.
The expression ‘in spite of’ means ‘even though’. ‘In spite of’ something is used when we mean that the fact that the person did something doesn’t prevent the consequence from happening. In the given context, the team lost even though they practiced hard. Therefore option C is correct. On the other hand ‘since’ and ‘with’ are unsuitable in the given context. Both these preposition in the given sentence would mean ‘because of’. The team didn’t lose because of practicing so hard, they lost despite it. Therefore ‘since’ and ‘with’ would be inappropriate in the given sentence, so options B and D are incorrect. Similarly, when we use the preposition of reason ‘for’ in the sentence, it would mean that the team lost so that they can practice hard, which would once again be illogical. Thus option A is incorrect.