Besides Richard, everyone passed.

[sitifan]

1. Everyone passed besides Richard. (=Everyone passed, in addition to Richard.)
[quoted from A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language]
2. Besides Richard, everyone passed.
#1 is supposed to be correct.
Is #2 also acceptable to native speakers?

 

[Phaedrus]

My natural interpetation of (2) is that Besides means Except for, not In addition to. That is, I naturally interpret (2) as implying that Richard did not pass.

 

[sitifan]

_______ Xiao Li, we all attended the meeting.
(A) Except (B) Besides (C) Except that (D) Except for
[quoted from NCEE(Gaokao) English Review]
The answer to the above question is D. Is option B also acceptable?

 

[Tarheel]

1. Everyone passed besides Richard. (=Everyone passed, in addition to Richard.)
[quoted from A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language]
2. Besides Richard, everyone passed.
#1 is supposed to be correct.
Is #2 also acceptable to native speakers?

I would say:

Everyone passed, including Richard.

 

[Tarheel]

_______ Xiao Li, we all attended the meeting.
(A) Except (B) Besides (C) Except that (D) Except for
[quoted from NCEE(Gaokao) English Review]
The answer to the above question is D. Is option B also acceptable?

Option D ("Except for") makes sense, is easily understood and lacks ambiguity. So I would use that one.

 

[tedmc]

Option B ("Except for") makes sense, is easily understood and lacks ambiguity. So I would use that one.

Option B is not "except for". "Besides" is ambiguous and not used as often.It has other meanings like "other than".

 

[Tarheel]

Option B is not "except for". "Besides" is ambiguous and not used as often.It has other meanings like "other than".

Thanks! I fixed that. (That's why I put things in parentheses -- for clarity.)