Besides Richard, everyone passed.

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sitifan

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1. Everyone passed besides Richard. (=Everyone passed, in addition to Richard.)
[quoted from A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language]
2. Besides Richard, everyone passed.
#1 is supposed to be correct.
Is #2 also acceptable to native speakers?
 
Last edited:
My natural interpetation of (2) is that Besides means Except for, not In addition to. That is, I naturally interpret (2) as implying that Richard did not pass.
 
_______ Xiao Li, we all attended the meeting.
(A) Except (B) Besides (C) Except that (D) Except for
[quoted from NCEE(Gaokao) English Review]
The answer to the above question is D. Is option B also acceptable?
 
Last edited:
sitifan said:
1. Everyone passed besides Richard. (=Everyone passed, in addition to Richard.)
[quoted from A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language]
2. Besides Richard, everyone passed.
#1 is supposed to be correct.
Is #2 also acceptable to native speakers?
Click to expand...
I would say:

Everyone passed, including Richard.
 
sitifan said:
_______ Xiao Li, we all attended the meeting.
(A) Except (B) Besides (C) Except that (D) Except for
[quoted from NCEE(Gaokao) English Review]
The answer to the above question is D. Is option B also acceptable?
Click to expand...
Option D ("Except for") makes sense, is easily understood and lacks ambiguity. So I would use that one.
 
Last edited:
Tarheel said:
Option B ("Except for") makes sense, is easily understood and lacks ambiguity. So I would use that one.
Click to expand...
Option B is not "except for". "Besides" is ambiguous and not used as often.It has other meanings like "other than".
 
tedmc said:
Option B is not "except for". "Besides" is ambiguous and not used as often.It has other meanings like "other than".
Click to expand...
Thanks! I fixed that. (That's why I put things in parentheses -- for clarity.)
 
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