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MustAsk Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Except vs except for

Hi

I've been trying hard to learn the difference between "Except vs except for" but I still haven't fully understood when either of those is used.

What should be used in the following example ?

I have clean every room expect/ except for the toilet?

Thanks!
  

Top answer

Quoting Swan's "Practical English Usage": 1. We use except (for) after general statements, especially after generalising words like all, every, no, everything, anybody, nowhere, whole, etc. He ate everything on his plate except (for) the beans.

— Yoong Liat

  • Quoting Swan's "Practical English Usage": 1.
  • We use except (for) after general statements, especially after generalising words like all, every, no, everything, anybody, nowhere, whole, etc.
  • He ate everything on his plate except (for) the beans.
  • He ate the whole meal, except (for) the beans.
  • 2.
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2 Answers
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Quoting Swan's "Practical English Usage":

1.
We use except (for) after general statements, especially after generalising words like all, every, no, everything, anybody, nowhere, whole, etc.

He ate everything on his plate except (for) the beans.
He ate the whole meal, except (for) the beans.

2.
In other cases we usually use "except for", not "except". Compare:
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To summarize:

I've cleaned all the rooms except the bathroom?

BUT

I've cleaned the house except for the bathroom?

The difference lies in the word "house" which is a completely different object being mentioned

Am I getting it right? those parentheses confused me a bit.
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