Humanities › English Accept, Except, and Expect Commonly Confused Words Print I expect you to pay the rent by Friday, and I'll accept no more excuses. David Burch / Getty Images English English Grammar An Introduction to Punctuation Writing By Richard Nordquist Richard Nordquist English and Rhetoric Professor Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester B.A., English, State University of New York Dr. Richard Nordquist is professor emeritus of rhetoric and English at Georgia Southern University and the author of several university-level grammar and composition textbooks. Learn about our Editorial Process Updated on April 03, 2017 The words accept, except, and expect sound similar, but their meanings are quite different. Definitions Accept is a verb that means to take in. The preposition except means other than. The verb expect means to depend on or await. Examples "You have to accept whatever comes, and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give."(Eleanor Roosevelt) "Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best.Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.Except when you don't,Because, sometimes, you won't."(Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go! Random House, 1990)"Momma sent us to her bedroom with warnings to have our Sunday School lesson perfectly memorized or we knew what we could expect."(Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House, 1969)Everyone except the elves accepted the wage offer. We expect to return to work soon. Practice Exercises (a) Because nobody _____ Shrek would _____ your excuse, I _____ an apology.(b) I _____ you to pay the rent by Friday, and I'll _____ no more excuses. Answers to Practice Exercises (a) Because nobody except Shrek would accept your excuse, I expect an apology.(b) I expect you to pay the rent by Friday, and I'll accept no more excuses. Cite this Article Format mla apa chicago Your Citation Nordquist, Richard. "Accept, Except, and Expect." ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/accept-except-expect-1692640. Nordquist, Richard. (2020, August 27). Accept, Except, and Expect. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/accept-except-expect-1692640 Nordquist, Richard. "Accept, Except, and Expect." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/accept-except-expect-1692640 (accessed March 29, 2024). copy citation