accept vs. except  

What is the difference between accept and except?

When properly and carefully pronounced, accept and except have slightly different pronunciations of their initial vowels: accept is pronounced /ækˈsɛpt/, while except is pronounced /ɪkˈsɛpt/.
In casual speech, though, the initial a- and e- get reduced to the unstressed speech sound schwa (/ə/), and both words are pronounced the same way: /əkˈsɛpt/. Because of this blending of pronunciations, the two words can sometimes be confused in writing.
Accept is a verb broadly meaning “to receive or take,” “to give an affirmative or approving answer,” or “to understand or regard as true, proper, correct, or normal.” For example:
  • “Please accept my apologies for not writing back sooner.”
  • “We’re pleased to accept your invitation to dinner.”
  • “You shouldn’t just accept that what someone tells you is the truth.”
Except can also function as a verb, but it is much more common as a preposition or a conjunction (meaning “other than; excluding; apart from”). For example:
  • “Everyone except Janet came to the movie.” (preposition)
  • “I would like a bit of everything except the broccoli, please.” (preposition)
  • “He had every reason for wanting to become a doctor, except that the tuition fees were so high.” (conjunction)
  • “Samantha never says a word in class, except when she’s causing a disruption.” (conjunction)
As a verb, except means “to leave out, exclude, or omit,” as in:
  • “He was excepted from the requirement due to his trouble walking.”
However, this use as a verb is rather uncommon in everyday speech and writing. Most of the time, if you are describing the action of a verb, accept is almost certain to be the correct choice.

1. Which of the following sentences is incorrect?

2. Choose the sentence in which accept is correct.

3. Choose the sentence in which except is correct.

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