(Despite) patience is the most important quality a treasure hunter can have, the treasure hunter demands a certain amount of courage too.
A. NO CHANGE
B. Although
C. However
D. Because
I choose an answer choice A because it seemed grammatically fine.
but correct answer was B. Explanation said the word"despite" cannot introduce a clause.
Can anyone explain why it cannot introduce a clause?
Despite is a preposition. It must be followed by a noun phrase. What you need here is a subordinating conjunction, whose function is to introduce a clause. Only B and D match that criterion, and only B makes sense.
A few ways “despite” might open a sentence correctly:
Despite losing the game . . . [“losing” here is a gerund]
Despite my preference for Dungeness crab . . .
Despite my having grown two wisdom teeth . . . [“having grown” is also a gerund, hence the possessive pronoun “my”]