を除いて|をのぞいて
- 1Excluding a particular person or thing from a group that the main clause applies to.Ex. 1
- 2Leaving out one issue or factor, with the statement true for everything else.Ex. 2
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It is slightly formal and common in announcements, rules, reports and explanations, and it is also used in careful speech. It works much like 以外 but sounds more formal. The を除き form is especially typical of written notices and official documents, though を除いて is also used in formal writing.
Do not attach を除いて directly to a verb; nominalize it first with こと.
Note that を除いて only excludes; it does not mean 'in addition to', which needs ほかに or に加えて.
Note that both を除いて and を除き work in formal writing; を除き is simply the more typical choice in notices and regulations.
- 1.は別としてN3「は別として」 overlaps with 「を除いて」 only in the sense of 'treating something as an exception,' and its tone is neutral. It more often means setting the first item aside for now, and it can also take question clauses like 「〜かどうか」 to mean 'regardless of whether...' — neither use is possible with 「を除いて」.
- 2.はさておきN1「はさておき」 sets the first item aside and moves on to a more important second one, and 「それはさておき」 can also be used to change the subject; its tone is neutral. 「を除いて」, by contrast, marks the first item as an exception and has a somewhat written/formal register, so the two generally cannot be interchanged.
- 3.はともかくN2「はともかく」 sets A aside and emphasizes B instead, often implying some reservation about A, and B can also be a suggestion. 「を除いて」 objectively excludes A from the scope; 「はともかく」 is neutral in register and can also take clauses like 「かどうか」.
- 4.抜きで / 抜きにしてN2「抜きで」 means doing something without a person or thing that would normally be there, and it can also mean 'leaving something out'; its register is neutral, while 「を除いて」 only objectively marks out exceptions. When both are followed by a negative, 「を抜きにしては」 indicates that something is indispensable, while 「を除いては」 indicates the only exception.
- 5.をおいてN1「をおいて」 can only be followed by a negative or a rhetorical question, emphasizing the sole one that meets the condition, often with the evaluative nuance of 'none other than it.' 「を除いて」 can be used in affirmative sentences to mark out exceptions; when followed by a negative it is close in meaning to 「をおいて」, but its tone is objective.
は別として can also exclude something from the scope of a statement (彼は別として、全員賛成した), but it tends to present the excluded item as a separate case, whereas を除いて is a plainer, more formal exclusion; はさておき and はともかく instead put a topic aside for now in order to focus on something else. 抜きで/抜きにして means doing something without an element that is normally included, and をおいて (usually with a negative) singles out X as the only fitting choice.
