Given that 和 providing that 這兩個附屬連接詞表達的語意並不相同:
Providing that he has more time, he will do a better job.
→ On the condition that he has more time, he will do better.
在上句中,providing that 所表達的並非一件確切的事情,而是一個可能的條件,一個未知假設。在這個條件成立的情況下,他才會做得好。
然而,given that 卻是帶出「已知」的前提:
Given that he has more time, he did a wonderful job.
→ For the fact that he had more time, he did better.
在這個句子中,「他有時間」是一件確定的事,考慮到這個「已知的前提」,他一定會有好表現。
總而言之,given that 是用來標記已知事實,表示「有鑑於、考慮到」;Providing 或 providing that 則用來標記未知的條件或假設,意思是「如果、只是」。