except and except for

[blouen]

Dictionary.com says :
except :
ex·cept1 [ik-sept] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
?preposition
1.with the exclusion of; excluding; save; but: They were all there except me.
?conjunction
2.only; with the exception (usually fol. by that): parallel cases except that one is younger than the other.
3.otherwise than; but (fol. by an adv., phrase, or clause): well fortified except here.

* except for, if it were not for: She would travel more except for lack of money.


1. I can't remember anything except the pain after the operation.
means : You can't remember anything but the pain after the operation. You can only remember one thing about the happening -- the pain after the operation....

- Or you can say: I should have forgotten everything except for the pain after the operation.


2. The weather was awful except in the south.
means: The weather in your area is really bad but not in the south.

"except for"
- The weather would have been sunny except for the drizzles.

[albertino]

yes except, but i kinda really need the reasons for those choices

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[albertino]

yes except, but i kinda really need the reasons for those choices

Disclaimer: I'm not a teacher. Sharing knowledge and helping each other are what I want to do here.
Comrade, I would like to sum up the use of "except for" and "except" a bit for you :
"Except for"
(i) Sometimes "Except for" and "except' can be used interchangeably:
e.g. We're on business every day except for/except Monday.

(ii) However, "Except for" cannot be followed by a gerund or wh-clause.
e.g.
They're interested in nothing execept for playing electronic games .
I knew nothing about him except for what I'd told you before.

Compare:
(1) He expects nothing except(not except for) seeing his fiancee as soon as possible.
(2) I knew nothing about John except (not except for) what I'd heard from Mary.

(iii) "Except for" not "except" must be used when it is positioned at the beginning, i.e. as an introductory phrase, of a sentence, whereas you can use "except" in other places.
e.g.
Except for me, everyone has been here.
Except me, everyone has been here in the meeting.
Everyone, except me, has been here in the meeting.
Everyone has been here in the meeting except me.

Main Differences between "except for" and "except"
(I)"Except"
(A)"Except" can be followed by nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions and wh-clausesis, which is used to exclude the things/persons of the same kind mentioned in a sentence. For example,　　
(i) We have a Chinese Langauge session every day except Saturday and holidays. (nouns)
(ii) They all went to the Diseyland last Monday except her. (pronoun)　　
(iii) Every day Albertino does nothing except (to) daydream. (verb)
(iv) He always goes to college by car except recently. (adverb)
(v) After breakfast the students had nowhere to go except to karaoki lounges. (prepositional phrase)　　
(vi) I usually goes to work by bus except when it rains heavily. (wh-clause)　　

(B)"Except" is usually used after "all, whole, any, every, no, anything, anybody, anyone, everything, everybody, everyone" . For example,

(i) She ate everything except the broccoli.　　
(ii) I've brought all the tools with me except the screwdriver.
　　
(II) "Except for",
(A) Being followed by nouns, it is used to mention something that prevents a previous statement from being completely or partly true, and the things/persons excluded are not of the same kind as mentioned in the previous statement. For example,

(i) Peter is a nice man, except for his irritable temper. 　　
(iii) My mom wouldn't give me any money except for food and water.

(B) An equivalent of "But for"(Longman Dict.:used when you are saying that something would have happened if something or someone else had not prevented it )
Except for you, I would pass the exam.
　　
Please correct me if I am wrong, dear teachers.

[dogg]

that helped

thx very much
all the best