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I have the following 2 sentences:

1- I did not see any other classmates, except/but Michael.

2- I did not see any classmates, except/but Michael

For the first sentence can we understand that the word other converts the expression in inclusive meaning that Michael is a classmate too?

For the second sentence, since the word other is missing, then does it mean that Michael is not a classmate?

Thanks in advance for any help.

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  • Yes. Thanks. The "of" was a typo.
    – Ger Cas
    Commented Sep 13, 2018 at 22:38

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In both sentences, the word except (and also but, when used like that) implies that Michael is one of the classmates. If Michael were not a classmate, you'd need to say something like

[1] I did not see any of my classmates, but I did see Michael.

Having said that, in both of your sentences there should be a determiner in fromt of classmeates. There are in fact many ways how they can be rewritten in order to be fully acceptable. Here are some, which all mean more or less the same thing:

[2]     a. I did not see any other of my classmates except Michael.
           b. I did not see any of my other classmates except Michael.
           c. I did not see any other classmates except Michael.
           d. I did not see any of my classmates except Michael.
           e. I did not see any classmates except Michael.

In all of these, instead of except you could use but. Also, in all of them, you could say [except]/[but] for Michael. In those which have my classmates, you could use some other determiner except my; for example, you could say the classmates. The placement of a comma after classmates is also a matter of style.

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  • Excellent. Thanks for the help and examples. Is possible to use "if not" in the same way that except or but?
    – Ger Cas
    Commented Sep 13, 2018 at 22:42
  • @GerCas: No, you can't. Here are some examples of how "if not" can be used: "If not now, when?" "If not Harry, who then?" And these 3 from The Grammar Exchange: "I'll pick you up at seven, if not earlier." "Stir in the liquid slowly; if not, the mixture will not thicken." "The pilot knew exactly what to do. If not, the plane would have crashed."
    – Wordster
    Commented Sep 14, 2018 at 0:08
  • @GerCas You mean as in * I did not see any other of my classmates if not Michael? If so, no, you can't use if not that way. To express your statement as a conditional, you'd need to say something like If it weren't for (me seeing) Michael, I wouldn't have seen any of my classmates (at all). But note that in this statement it is unclear if perhaps you might have eventually seen some other classmates in addition to Michael, and you seeing Michael was somehow the reason you managed to see these additional ones.
    – linguisticturn
    Commented Sep 14, 2018 at 0:11
  • @GerCas The if-part could also be If I hadn't seen Michael. In these constructions, you can't use other after any or before classmates. Indeed, the sentence If I hadn't seen Michael, I wouldn't have seen any other of my classmates (either) does imply that you did eventually see some other classmates in addition to Michael.
    – linguisticturn
    Commented Sep 14, 2018 at 0:12
  • @Wordster Excellent. Many thanks for your example a of "if not". I get the idea.
    – Ger Cas
    Commented Sep 14, 2018 at 1:32

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