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Do IÌýaccept an invitation or except it?ÌýIf someone is left off of an invitation list, has she been excepted or accepted?

What’s the difference between these two terms, and how can we keep them straight?

What doesÌý²¹³¦³¦±ð±è³ÙÌýmean?

AcceptÌýis a verb, and it means, most broadly, “to take or receive (something offered) or receive with approval or favor,” as inÌýI accept this trophy.

What doesÌý±ð³æ³¦±ð±è³ÙÌýmean?

Except has a verb sense of “to exclude; leave out,” as in the phrase present company excepted. But, it can also be used as a preposition, as in They were all thereÌý±ð³æ³¦±ð±è³ÙÌýme,Ìýand a conjunction, as in Every inch of the facility was well fortified except here.ÌýExcept is also widely used in the phrase except for,Ìýas in She would travel more except for lack of money.

Homophones can make a big mess of our brains. Just look at reeking vs. wreaking. Do you know the difference?

As with some other commonly confused terms,ÌýacceptÌýandÌýexceptÌýshare a linguistic ancestor. Both can be traced to the Latin verbÌýcapereÌýmeaning “to take.” The prefixÌýex-Ìýmeans “out of.” The prefixÌýac-Ìýis a variant ofÌýad-, which occurs in loanwords from Latin where it meant “toward.”

How do you use accept and except?

One easy way to keep these two terms straight is to remember the ex- in except and associate it with exclude. That will help you distinguish it fromÌýaccept, which means “to receive.”

Here are some examples of how you might use except:

• Everyone except Clarissa is required to participate in tomorrow’s seminar.
• Except for one year I spent studying abroad, I’ve lived in Philadelphia my whole life.
• Our boss has blamed everyone except himself for the losses this quarter.

Here are some examples of how you might use accept:

• Desperate to sell, the ownerÌýaccepted the couple’s very low offer on the house.
• He’s a proud man and generally doesn’t accept charity or help from friends.
• I can’t accept this gift, as it’s much too expensive!

And in case you’re wondering, yes, you can say someone has been excepted from an invitation list though it’s not so commonly used: Some employeesÌýare excepted from theÌýnew sick day policy.

When determining whether to use except or accept in a sentence, you can also consider what part of speech the sentence calls for:

• If you need a verb, and if that verb could be replaced with exclude without losing the intended meaning of the sentence, then choose except.ÌýIf the meaning is lost with exclude, then go withÌýaccept.
• If you need a preposition or conjunction (or anything other than a verb), except is the term for you (accept is only used a verb).