When do you use "accept" and when "except"?

"Accept" and "except" are among the most confusing word pairs in English. If you've ever mixed them up, you're not alone. Even native speakers make this mistake all the time. Let's clear it up.

Accept

The verb "accept" means to receive or agree to something willingly. Think of it as saying "yes" to something. Here are some examples:

"I accept your apology."

"She accepted the job offer."

"They accepted the award with pride."

Here are a few more ways "accept" can be used in everyday English:

"He accepted the invitation with joy."

"The teacher accepted the late assignment."

"We accepted the conditions of the contract."

Except

On the other hand, "except" is a preposition that means to exclude or leave out something. Here's how we use "except" in a sentence:

"Everyone attended the meeting except John."

"The store is open every day except Sunday."

"I like all fruits except bananas."

To see how "except" works in other contexts:

"All the dishes were great except this one."

"The park is open daily except during holidays."

"She likes all colors except yellow."

Hopefully, this cleared up the confusion between "accept" and "except." If you're stuck on other tricky words, stick around — we'll cover those in future posts.

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