Is "except" ever a verb?
Rarely. In everyday writing, "except" is a preposition meaning "leaving out." The verb you probably want is "exempt" or "exclude."
A little morei
There is a technical verb form ("to except someone from a rule"), but it reads stiff and archaic almost everywhere outside legal prose. If you want a verb, exclude or exempt will serve you better. For the receiving sense, you want accept — a completely different word.
The full entryii
Confusables
Accept vs. Except
To receive or welcome versus to exclude — near-opposite meanings.
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