But is used as coordinating conjunction here.


excepting followed by preposition (for) is wrong.

So, A and D are wrong.

Note: we can use "excepting" by itself in the situation like, when you want to point out an exception to a negative statement, but not with "for".



Option E: This is run-on sentence.

We need coordinate conjunctions (F,A,N,B,O,Y,S) to connect the 2 independent sentences.

with is not a coordinating conjunction and hence can't join 2 independent sentences.


Option B:

Mauritius was a British colony for almost 200 years, except in the domains of administration and teaching
Meaning: Mauritius was a colony in domains of....? wrong!

Note: "Except" cannot connect two complete sentences.


"X was Y, except in Z" would be a sentence by itself.


therefore, "X was Y, except in Z, A was B" is a run-on (you can't tag 2 complete sentences together with a comma).

bolded parts are 2 independent sentences.

"except in Z" is just a modifier

First of all, we need both BUT and EXCEPT:


But is needed to join 2 independent sentences i.e. it is working as conjunction.

Mauritius was a British colony for almost 200 years, but except in the domains of administration and teaching, the English language was never really spoken on the island.


above bolded parts are 2 independent sentences and here BUT is joining these 2 sentences.

{ and YES WE DO NEED COMMA HERE, otherwise BUT will work as preposition.

EXAMPLE: All developed nations but the Russia have some form of national health insurance.

In this sentence, parts before and after the BUT are not complete sentences so BUT is used here to mean except.

Please NOTE in this question COMMA is in non-underlined and you not need to bother about it. ALSO, NOTE COMMA IS STILL THERE IN CORRECT ANSWER CHOICE.
}

Read the sentence like:

Mauritius was a British colony for almost 200 years,
but
except in the domains of administration and teaching, the English language was never really spoken on the island.


now it shows the usage of but.


Now coming to usage of except here.

Mauritius was a British colony for almost 200 years BUT the English language was never really spoken on the island.

EXCEPT for the domains of administration and teaching, the English language was never really spoken island.

We need to point out the odd situation (was a colony but didn't speak the language) using "but" and point out the exception using "except".


Note: There are two contrasts set up in the sentence, so using both "but" and "except" not only escapes being redundant, it is *necessary* in order to deal with both contrasts properly.

evs.teja wrote:I got the question right but I have a doubt even with the correct option is ",(comma)" necessary and if yes WHY ?

An independent clause is a group of words that includes a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought.
Generally, if a conjunction such as but serves to connect two independent clauses, it should be preceded by a comma.
OA: Mauritius was a British colony for almost 200 years, but...the English language was never really spoken on the island.
Here, but serves to connect the two independent clauses in red and thus is preceded by a comma.

Note:
The GMAT does not really test comma usage.