Except, accept, past,

Except, accept, past, 

Except, expect and accept

These words are often confused.

Except is a preposition. It should be followed by a noun which acts as its object.

• Everybody came except John.

Here the noun John acts as the object of the preposition except. Except shows the relationship between ‘everybody’ and ‘John’.

Expect is a verb

• I expected him to call but he didn’t.
• We expect her to win the first prize.

Accept is also a verb.

• She accepted the invitation.

Past and passed

Past can be used as a preposition, but passed cannot be used like this.

• I walked past the school.
• It is past your bedtime.

Past can also be used as an adverb. In this case, it is not followed by a noun.

• A policeman walked past.

Passed is a verb. It refers to the action of passing.

• She has passed the test.

Note that the word past usually refers to time or distance.

Into and Onto

The word into is a preposition. It is usually written as one word.

• King Midas turned everything he touched into gold.

• When she kissed the frog it turned into a handsome prince.

Sometimes the words in and to appear next to each other in a sentence. In this case, they should be written as two words.

• The minister himself stepped in to avert a PR crisis. (NOT The minister himself stepped into ….)

Onto

Onto is a preposition.

• He threw the hat onto the roof.

The difference between into and onto is similar to the difference between in and on.

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