Hello all, 'Except' and 'except for' - when should one be used, and not the other? With regards to the above, which of these examples would be correct: She has everything she wanted in life, except for the depression. She has everything she wanted in life, except the depression. ----- Everyone came to my party, except for Denise Everyone came to my party, except Denise.
I feel like 'except for' is more fitting at the beginning of sentences if you rephrased them, when comparing the two. That's just my inner voice though.
You can only see the first page, however this is interesting: https://academic.oup.com/eltj/article-abstract/XXXV/3/260/545193?redirectedFrom=PDF
Very interesting! Thank you for this. It's been bugging me for awhile, so all advice is muchly appreciated.
There are no hard and fast rules in the usage of except .Except means , not including . So , I like all men, except short ones. I like all man , except for short ones . Has the same meaning .
Thanks for the input. Appreciate it. So in this example, both are right? It's just a matter of taste? Which would you go with? She has everything she wanted in life, except for the depression. She has everything she wanted in life, except the depression
They're both identical in meaning. What would I say in real life? It depends on the specific situation. I think it has more to do with whether I feel the need for an extra syllable or not. I will say though that "the" sounds odd in that sentence.
Substitute 'the' for 'her'? I'm leaning towards: She has everything she wanted in life, except for her depression. or: She has everything she wanted in life, except for depression.
Well, it's kind of a weird sentence in the first place because it implies that depression is the one thing she is missing to make her happiness complete.
Gosh, I didn't realise that! I see it now... This forum is great. It really does help. Would it be better as: She has everything she wanted in life, minus the depression
Very helpful. Thank you! Really. Would still like to hear people's opinions on the 'except' and 'except for' debate.
Not really. That would suggest the depression was there but has since been beaten. It's just a clumsy sentence in truth. Oh, and I hadn't noticed the error in the original sentence, either, until @Friedrich Kugelschreiber pointed it out. I would say: But for her depression, she had everything she wanted in life.
I think these have the same issue as the original sentence; we're talking about what she wanted in life, so the depression is the exception that she doesn't have. I'd go for: Everything was as she wanted it in her life, except for her depression.
Just to add, I need to write with a blurb in mind. She suffers with anxiety (which sucks), but apart from that, she has everything she wanted in life - that's basically what I'm trying to say. Would this not work then: Apart from anxiety, she has everything she wanted in life.
No, because this implies she wants anxiety. Also, you have a mixed up tense here. "Has" = present tense, "wanted" = past tense. "She had everything she wanted, but she still suffered from anxiety." Or more flowery: "Despite having everything she wanted in life, anxiety still plagued her."
That would also suggest she wanted depression Why is this so difficult? We are all aspiring writers, yes?
Sorry guys! Going completely off tangent, but I've decided to change the original sentence. Anxiety sucks. She has lived with it her entire life. Or should the 'it' be anxiety? Does it need it twice? Don't want to patronise the reader.
