Either vs Except - What's the difference?
either | except |
Each of two.
* (John Milton) (1608-1674)
* 1936 , (Djuna Barnes), (Nightwood) , Faber & Faber 2007, page 31:
One or the other of two.
* {{quote-news, passage=You can't be a table and a chair. You're either a Jew or a gentile.
, quotee=(Jackie Mason), year=2006, date=December 5, work=USA Today
, title= (coordinating)
* {{quote-book, year=1893, author=(Walter Besant), title=
, passage=Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language
(obsolete) Both, each of two or more.
* , Bk.VII:
* (Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
* , III.i:
* (1809-1894)
One or other of two people or things.
* 2013 , Daniel Taylor,
As well.
* {{quote-book, year=1959, author=(Georgette Heyer), title=(The Unknown Ajax), chapter=1
, passage=But Richmond
Introduces the first of two options, the second of which is introduced by "or".
To exclude; to specify as being an exception.
* 2007 , Glen Bowersock, ‘Provocateur’, London Review of Books 29:4, page 17:
To take exception, to object (to' or ' against ).
* Shakespeare
*, vol.1, New York Review Books 2001, p.312:
* 1658 , Sir Thomas Browne, Urne-Burial , Penguin 2005, page 23:
* 1749 , Henry Fielding, Tom Jones , Folio Society 1973, page 96:
With the exception of; but.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= With the exception (that); used to introduce a clause, phrase or adverb forming an exception or qualification to something previously stated.
:
*
*:"I don't want to spoil any comparison you are going to make," said Jim, "but I was at Winchester and New College." ¶ "That will do," said Mackenzie. "I was dragged up at the workhouse school till I was twelve. Then I ran away and sold papers in the streets, and anything else that I could pick up a few coppers by—except steal.."
*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=2 (lb) Unless; used to introduce a hypothetical case in which an exception may exist.
*1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , (w) IX:
*:And they sayde: We have no moo but five loves and two fisshes, except we shulde goo and bye meate for all this people.
*1621 , (Robert Burton), (The Anatomy of Melancholy) , New York 2001, p.106:
*:Offensive wars, except the cause be very just, I will not allow of.
As conjunctions the difference between either and except
is that either is introduces the first of two options, the second of which is introduced by "or" while except is with the exception (that); used to introduce a clause, phrase or adverb forming an exception or qualification to something previously stated.As a determiner either
is each of two.As a pronoun either
is both, each of two or more.As an adverb either
is as well.As a verb except is
to exclude; to specify as being an exception.As a preposition except is
with the exception of; but.either
English
Usage notes
In the UK the first pronunciation is generally used more in southern England, while the latter is more usual in northern England. However, this is an oversimplification, and the pronunciation used varies by individual speaker and sometimes by situation. The second pronunciation is the most common in the United States.Determiner
(en determiner)- His flowing hair / In curls on either cheek played.
- Her hands, long and beautiful, lay on either side of her face.
Mason drops lawsuit vs. Jews for Jesus}}
The Ivory Gate, chapter=Prologue
Synonyms
* (one or the other) * (each of two) both, eachPronoun
(English Pronouns)- Than ayther departed to theire tentis and made hem redy to horsebacke as they thought beste.
- Scarce a palm of ground could be gotten by either of the three.
- And either vowd with all their power and wit, / To let not others honour be defaste.
- There have been three talkers in Great British, either of whom would illustrate what I say about dogmatists.
Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban, The Guardian, 6 September:
- Hodgson may now have to bring in James Milner on the left and, on that basis, a certain amount of gloss was taken off a night on which Welbeck scored twice but barely celebrated either before leaving the pitch angrily complaining to the Slovakian referee.
Adverb
(-)Usage notes
either is sometimes used, especially in North American English, where neither would be more traditionally accurate: "I'm not hungry." "Me either."Synonyms
* neither * tooConjunction
(English Conjunctions)- Either you eat your dinner or you go to your room.
Usage notes
* When there are more than two alternatives, "any" is used instead.See also
* neither * nor * orStatistics
*except
English
Alternative forms
* excepte (rare or archaic)Verb
(en verb)- But this [ban on circumcision] must have been a provocation, as the emperor Antoninus Pius later acknowledged by excepting the Jews.
- to except to a witness or his testimony
- Except thou wilt except against my love.
- Yea, but methinks I hear some man except at these words […].
- The Athenians'' might fairly except against the practise of ''Democritus to be buried up in honey; as fearing to embezzle a great commodity of their Countrey
- he was a great lover of music, and perhaps, had he lived in town, might have passed for a connoisseur; for he always excepted against the finest compositions of Mr Handel.
Preposition
(English prepositions)It's a gas, passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains. Isolating a city’s effluent and shipping it away in underground sewers has probably saved more lives than any medical procedure except vaccination.}}
Synonyms
* apart from * bar * but * other than * saveDerived terms
* except for * except for opinionConjunction
(English Conjunctions)citation, passage=Mother