Differences in Usage between except ~ and except for ~
In-Sik Jeong · Journal of Linguistic Studies · 2017
This study identifies differences in usage between except ~ and except for ~, meaning with the exception of ~ through a semantic and syntactic approach. Except ~ and except for ~ are not semantically equivalent when followed by a noun phrase. The former has only one meaning, while the latter has three meanings. So except ~ can be replaced with except for ~ only when the meaning of the former is identical to one of three meanings of the latter. Semantically equivalent though they may be, except ~ and except for ~ are not interchangeable when except ~ is placed sentence-initially. The reason is argued to be the syntactic difference between the two prepositions: except for ~ is a subordinating preposition and except ~ is a coordinating preposition.