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Kushal_p_pathak Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Is it a preposition or a conjunction?

Hi there,
I am a newbie on this forum & I would appreciate it if someone can help me with these sentences. From among the following sentences:
He does nothing except reading books.

He does nothing except read books.

He does nothing except to read books.

Which one of these is correct & why?And "except" used here in the sentences- Is it a conjunction or a preposition? And if I change the tense of the first verb(do) in the above sentences- will the second verb(read) change as well & if yes how?
Thanks in advance
Regards
Kushal
  

Top answer

He does nothing except read books. He did nothing except read books. I do nothing except read books I did nothing except read books.

— Tim New

  • He does nothing except read books.
  • He did nothing except read books.
  • I do nothing except read books I did nothing except read books.
  • except is a preposition that means "other than" or "but".
  • They did nothing but read books all day.
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5 Answers
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He does nothing except read books.

He did nothing except read books.

I do nothing except read books

I did nothing except read books.

except is a preposition that means "other than" or "but".

They did nothing but read books all day.
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kushal_p_pathak And if I change the tense of the first verb(do) in the above sentences- will the second verb(read) change as well & if yes how ?
The infinitive, "[to] read" and the present participle, "reading" are called "verbals," and don't have tenses.

I like to read.
I liked to read.
I like reading.
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its the second one. the first one say reading which makes the sentence odd and weird sounding. the third one has to and to is a conjunction i think so the third one also wouldnt be one. so that kleaves number two. and your welcome charvi patel
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(1) He does nothing except reading. The gerund is not acceptable because of the verb "do." Changing the tense will not make it acceptable. A gerund requires a sentence like: He was not interested in anything except (in) reading, (2) He does nothing but read. It is the short way to say: He does nothing except (that he does) read. (3) He does nothing except TO READ. It is another way to say NO.
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"He does nothing except read books" is correct.
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