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  1. She has no one to look after her except me.

  2. She has no one to look after her but me.

Which is correct?

My grammar book says sentence2 is correct. What is the difference between BUT and EXCEPT in these kind of sentences? Aren’t they always replacable?

ramteja guthikonda
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    I'd prefer to use *"except (for), or apart/aside from me"* rather than *"but". Both of the sentences are synonymous with one another; thus, I don't think there is much noticeable differentiation between them except for the latter being more emphatic than the former... Look it up in your favorite dictionary for more information about both 'but' and 'except' functioning as a preposition in a sentence...* – Alex TheBN May 24 '20 at 14:51
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    @AlexRaw Are but and Except always replaceable in these kind of sentences? – ramteja guthikonda May 24 '20 at 16:21
  • Yes. They are interchangeable. – Alex TheBN May 24 '20 at 16:22
  • @AlexRaw, I preferred your comment than the available answer. Would you consider register it in an answer? It seems to have helped the asker as helped me – artu-hnrq May 24 '20 at 17:05
  • @AlexRaw. Is it same when No One Else is used? Like, She has no one else to look after her EXCEPT me = She has no one else to look after her BUT me. Are they same? – ramteja guthikonda May 25 '20 at 02:00
  • @ramtejaguthikonda You should not look at the sentence in that way, but "no". They are not the same as words if they are synonymous with one other; they are *syntactically the same: both of them are prepositions.* Another possible variant of "no one" is none other than "nobody". e.g. *She has not anyone/anybody to look after her but me.* https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/244884/determiners-anyone-versus-someone – Alex TheBN May 25 '20 at 10:30

1 Answers1

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"But" can be used as a preposition in the sense of "except" :

"She has no one to look after her but/except me."

Therefore, both your examples are okay & interchangeable.

Sandip Kumar Mandal
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