Accept and Except
A common mistake which in fact is also made by native speakers is the mix up of spelling between the words accept and except. The problem arises because some words are pronounced in the same way, but they have a different meaning. Such words are called homophones. Accept is a verb which means 'to receive' ("I accepted the invitation") or 'to agree' ("I did not accept the allegation that I had cheated"), except is used as a preposition which means 'excluding' ("Everyone except Sonja was invited to the party"). In itself it is not really difficult to understand or remember this. It is more a matter of discipline. Nevertheless it may cause confusion, especially when writing emails in business to people who haven't got a good command of English and it's a mistake that can easily be avoided. Besides the fact that you don't want to create misunderstandings, you don't want to come across as careless. Your email may be your first contact with a new client, so you want to come across as someone who works with care and who has a good level of education.
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