Accept and except

1 2

Share on Facebook

Lone Swordsman

#432800 Sat, 20 Oct 07 08:59 PM

Hi, all.

I'd like to ask you about pronunciation of these two words: accept and except. For me, it looks like they sound the same, and the worst of all, they are like antonyms. It would be very interesting for me to know how you pronounce these words.

P.S. By the way, on Merriam-Webster website, they utter both of them in the same way - \ik-'sept\.

Lone Swordsman

Joined on Fri, Jun 15 2007

New Member (32)

Pronunciation, Antonyms

Doll

#432825 Sat, 20 Oct 07 11:22 PM

I think there is a difference of stress. You stress the second syllable when you pronunce except but you stress the first syllable when you pronunce accept.

Doll

Joined on Sat, Mar 10 2007

Turkey

Senior Member (2,597)

I am a netizen!

21st Birthday Speech

Lone Swordsman

#432834 Sat, 20 Oct 07 11:39 PM

Strangely enough these two words are pronounced exactly the same. You can hear announcer from Merriam-Webster website utter them in the same way. Here are the links:

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/except
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/accept

Maybe native speakers can shed some light on that.

Lone Swordsman

Anonymous

#432965 Sun, 21 Oct 07 10:49 AM

From the book - "Good word. Guide"
The two words are similar but not identical in pronunciation: accept is pronouced [áksept] and except is pronounced [iksept].

Hope this helps : )

Anonymous

Pronunciation

Lone Swordsman

#433041 Sun, 21 Oct 07 03:09 PM

I think there's a difference between how BrE speakers and AmE ones pronounce these words. In British English they pronounce it like you just wrote, but when I hear an AmE speaker utter accept and except, it sounds to me equally. Although I may be wrong.

Lone Swordsman

Difference Between, British English

Kooyeen

#433170 Sun, 21 Oct 07 08:18 PM

Hi,
I would say ACCEPT starts with a reduced vowel that is lower (on the IPA chart) than the vowel in EXCEPT.
But the truth is that there is such a little difference that in practice even if some people think they pronounce them differently (difference in production), the result is pretty much the same (no difference in perception).

So don't worry about that Wink [;)]

PS: Remember I'm not a native speaker.

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (4,173)

If you don't have a sense of humor already, it's about time you buy one.

Vowels

Yankee

#433360 Mon, 22 Oct 07 01:43 PM

Hi LS

The online version of Webster's Dictionary lists several variations for the pronunciation of accept:
\ik-ˈsept, ak- also ek-\

I would agree that except and accept are usually pronounced the same in AmE. This facts also leads to spelling errors.

I found this in Hutchinson Dictionaries (online):

accept or except

to accept something or someone is to take them: Credit cards are accepted (you can use them to pay);
to except them is to exclude them: Credit cards are excepted (you'll have to pay by cash or cheque).

This leads me to believe that many Brits must pronounce those two words the same too. Perhaps some of our British members will weigh in on this. Wink [;)]

Yankee

Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006

Connecticut, USA

Senior Member (4,511)

Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain

Pronunciation, Spelling

Lone Swordsman

#433418 Mon, 22 Oct 07 03:19 PM

Hi Amy, Kooyeen

Amy, that was a great example with credit cards. I think If I were told one of these sentences, I wouldn't be sure whether I have to use my credit card or pay by cash. Smile [:)] I hope when it comes to choosing between them I'll make the right choice.

Lone Swordsman

CalifJim

#436668 Tue, 30 Oct 07 04:06 AM

I would say ACCEPT starts with a reduced vowel that is lower (on the IPA chart) than the vowel in EXCEPT.

I would say that, too. And, Amy's example notwithstanding, except is so seldom used as a verb that I don't think there's much difficulty disambiguating the two in most contexts.

I mean, who says, "Please except my application for the job" or "Everyone liked the movie accept me"? Smile [:)]

Note also that, even though both words have the stress on the final syllable, in connected speech the verbs will get more stress than the prepositions. So cept is more strongly stressed in "Please accept my application" than in "except me". Note the bold font below, which shows the stresses, comparing the two cepts.

No one will accept it except me.

CJ

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (18,337)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Vowels, Verbs, Prepositions

1 2