UNLESS
\ʌnlˈɛs], \ʌnlˈɛs], \ʌ_n_l_ˈɛ_s]\
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By William Dodge Lewis, Edgar Arthur Singer
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Except and unless were common formerly as conjuctions, nearly or quite interchangeable (“Except thou make thyself a prince over us.â€-Num. xvi. 18), but the former is now comparatively seldom used in that way (at least with the verb directly expressed), having usually a prepositional force. In the Bible except (conj.) occurs eight or ten times as often as unless. The special function of except is to introduce an exception to a general statement; of unless to introduce a restriction, limitation, or alternative. “So that he could not be impleaded in any civil court except on criminal charges.â€-Hallam. “And made it hard for any nation to be thenceforth safe except by its sheer strength."-Kinglake. "A releif was a sum of money (unless where charter or custom introduced a different tribute) due from every one of full age, etc."-Hallam. "Except when it happens that the people are turned aside for a moment the foreigner has good grounds for inferring that whatever the policy of England may be, it will not be altogether unstable."-Kinglake. "In Europe, all States except the five great Powers are exempt from the duty of watching over the general safety; and even a State which is one of the five great Powers is not practically under an obligation to sustain the cause of justice unless its perception of the wrong is reinforced by a sense of its own interests."-Kinglake.
By Daniel Lyons
By James Champlin Fernald
Word of the day
Procollagen Proline Dioxygenase
- mixed-function oxygenase that catalyzes hydroxylation prolyl-glycyl-containing-peptide, usually in protocollagen, hydroxyprolylglycyl-peptide. The enzyme utilizes molecular oxygen with a concomitant oxidative decarboxylation of 2-oxoglutarate to succinate. EC 1.14.11.2.