（１） besides與except
前者表示＂除．．．以外，還有．．．＂；后者表示＂從整體中除去．．．＂
這個大家都知道，就不舉例子了．
（２）except與except for
a．除去的和非除去的是同類事物，用except
eg：
all the essays are well written except nelson’s.
nelson的文章（除去的）和all the essays（非除去的）是同類事物，所以用except．
b．除去的和非除去的不是同類事物，用except for，并且從語氣上通常表示遺憾．
eg：his essay is well written except for a few spelling mistakes.
a few spelling mistakes(除去的）和his essay（非除去的）是不同類的事物．
（３）apart from 具有多重意義：既可表示besides，也可以表示exept或exept for，還可以表示without的意思
eg：
apart from the cost,it will take a lot of time.(=besides)
the orphan had no one to take care of him apart from his uncle.(=except)
he has done good work,apart from a few slight faults.(=except for)
there can be no knowledge apart from practice.實踐出真知．（＝without）
（４）excepting =except,但一般用于句首或用于not，without，always等詞之后
eg:
excepting his brother,they are all right.
everyone,not excepting myself,must share the blame.
all of us,without excepting those who know more about the subject,should study.
all my brothers com here every day,always excepting the youngest.
（５）but與except同義，但but多用在every，any，no等和由這些詞構成的復合詞如everything，anywhere，nobody等詞以后及all，none之后
eg：
the children go to school everyday but sunday.
they are all gone but me.
you can get the book anywhere but here.
there is no one but me.
who but george would do such a thing?