舟動之穿林吟嘯行

兩道題目：

1. ____ me, everyone was exhausted.

(A) Except   (B) Except for

2. Mandy answered all the questions ____ the last one.

(A) except   (B) except for

如果我沒記錯，應該是四年八個月之前，曾有學生拿類似的問題來問我。大部份同學對於 besides 與 except 的差易比較沒有問題；這位同學則是在寫作文時遇到 except 與 except for 的兩難，不知該寫哪個才好。他告訴我，學校老師在上課時舉了很多例子來說明 except 與 except for 的差異，但是他聽不大懂，全忘了。

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古早的區別法：except 用於「排除同一組東西當中的一個或多個」，而except for 用於「針對原來的句義內容進行細節修正」。例如：

■ There is nothing to indicate the building's past, except for the fireplace. (CALD3)

■ His composition is well written except for a few spelling mistakes.

延伸繼續談，except for 在句義補充的擴充，結構上就變為 except that+clause。例如：

■ The area looks very much like the state of Iowa, except that it is surrounded by beautiful snow-covered mountains. (LDOCE5)

但是當今語用學家都發現 except 與 except for 已不存在上面的區別，換言之，當代英語的 except (for) 可省略。但 L. G. Alexander 在Longman English Grammar一書中特別提出：...we cannot use "but" and "except" as preposition without "for" to begin a sentence. 也就是放在句子開頭的 But for, Except for 仍然不可省略。

■ Except for a few years in the early sixties and seventies, inflation has been a continuing feature of American life since World War II. (LDOCE5)

話說回來，上面兩題答案，第一題只能用(B)，第二題則(A)(B)皆可。

可是，except for 若帶假設語氣「要不是...；若非...」，並非上面所提到的「除了...以外」，for 也不可省略，例如：

■ She would leave her husband except for the children.