Except? Except for?

Except? Except for?

 Q: I have a question about the diffierence between except and except for. I have consulted dictionaries, but I still haven't got the difference. Please help me!!

A: The word 'except' is similar in meaning to 'but not', 'not including' or 'besides'.

Example 例: It rained everyday except Wednesday. It rained everyday, but not Wednesday. It rained everyday, not including Wednesday. It rained everyday besides Wednesday.

 
Now, 'except' and 'except for' can be tricky! Sometimes they are used the SAME WAY. Other times they are used DIFFERENTLY. Let's take a look.

When you can use both.
If you use words that mean 'all', 'any' or 'none' before you use 'except'. 

Examples 例: Almost everyone went to the party, except for me.  Almost everyone went to the party, except me. He ate the whole pizza except for one small piece, which he kept for his girlfriend. He ate the whole pizza except one small piece, which he kept for his girlfriend.

When to use 'except for' only.
In other sentences use 'except for' - especially before nouns.

Example 例: The class was late, except for the youngest boy. (noun phrase- the youngest boy) The dinner was delicious, except for the dessert.  (noun - the dessert)

When to use 'except' only.
Before verbs, prepositions and conjunctions.

Example 例: She is always angry except when she meets Masahito. (conjunction - when) He did nothing except drink beer all night. (verb - drink) He likes all kinds of sports except playing basketball.  (verb - playing) He is always late except on Mondays. (preposition - on)

Practice Time! Try the quiz below!

Quiz: CLICK HERE TO TAKE A QUIZ

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Question: Did you find the quiz useful?

Put your answer in the comments!
コメントにあなたの答えを書き込んでみてくださいね！

Comments

I did the quiz and got 9 out of 10.

まあこんなもんでしょ？（笑）

I have to speak English with my husband and a homestay student！
Though I make some grammatical mistakes according our conversations, they won't correct my English as they understand what I meant to say. sigh...

No time for that anyway! hehe

PS:
I am まさかまさこ　in MIXI.

Posted by K's mum at 2008年04月11日 07:46

こんにちは。
I didn't know that beside meaning is the same as exsept. I thought it mean like "add", so if i hear that sentence "It rained everyday besides Wednesday."
I might misunderstand it for "it rained everyday as well as Wednesday "

Posted by Ai at 2008年04月11日 10:39

I fully understand the difference. Thanks, GETJ.
Besides, the quiz was very useful as it is fairly related to your explanation.

But there's something in my mind.
As Ai points out, the usage of "besides" seems strange to me too.
Eg. I have two brothers besides Tom.
私はトム以外に２人兄がいる。
This "besides" is equivalent to "and".
We therefore can say "I have two brothers and Tom", meaning "I have three brothers".

Posted by Masa at 2008年04月11日 20:15

I have two brothers 'besides' Tom.　= I have two brothers 'not including' Tom.

Watch out next week for more on 'besides'
BTW... Masa... what does GETJ mean?

So Masa, the quiz was only fairly related? Please tell me what was wrong? I want to know so that I can plan future activities.

Posted by ジョン at 2008年04月12日 08:04

Sorry, it is a worng word, "fairly".
In the Japanese dictionaries, fairly means かなり, which is the same meaning as "quite".
かなり shows the degree of more than 90%.
Japanese dictionaries are sometimes useless.
So, how can you rank the degree of adverbs.
slightly → fairly　→ quite ???

Thanks,Great English Teacher John.

Posted by Masa at 2008年04月12日 12:41

Hi Masa!
Sorry to be slow to respond!
slightly → fairly　→ quite IS CORRECT!

YOU TRY:
Read these sentences:
PERSON A: The movie was 'fairly' good.
PERSON B: The movie was 'quite' good.

Question: Who enjoyed the movie most? Person A? Person B?

Tell me what you think.
John

Posted by ジョン at 2008年04月14日 22:36

Person B enjoyed the movie more than A.

Person A: The movie was not too good, not too bad.(50% satisfied)

Peron B: The movie was very good (90% satisfied).

Posted by Masa at 2008年04月15日 21:41

Great work Masa!

Posted by ジョン at 2008年04月17日 05:58

I have a question. Can we put both base verb and verb -ing after except? Such as the sentence, except drink beer and except playing basketball.
Can I say ".... except drinking beer, or except play basketball?

Posted by Lala at 2008年09月25日 11:45

Your lesson of "except" and "except for" was very helpful. Thank you.
However, now I have a question about "besides".

Longman dictionary and Oxford dictionary define "besides" as "in addition to" or "as well as".
So your example of "It rained every day besides Wednesday" sounds like "It rained every day including Wednesday" but not "It rained everyday, not including Wednesday."

Posted by Junko at 2009年06月23日 00:09

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