except in the case of, with the exception of

To write plainly and concisely, use except for instead of the roundabout phrases except in the case of and with the exception of. Other possibilities include apart from, but for, excluding and other than.

  • Wordy: Except in the case of one minor injury, the training activities ran perfectly.
  • Concise: Except for one minor injury, the training activities ran perfectly.
  • Wordy: All the months are 30 or 31 days long, with the exception of February, which has 28 days.
  • Concise: All the months are 30 or 31 days long apart from February, which has 28 days.

Copyright notice for Writing Tips Plus

© His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, represented by the Minister of Public Services and Procurement
A tool created and made available online by the Translation Bureau, Public Services and Procurement Canada

Search by related themes

Want to learn more about a theme discussed on this page? Click on a link below to see all the pages on the Language Portal of Canada that relate to the theme you selected. The search results will be displayed in Language Navigator.