关于except的小小想法

看着manhattan连带着做相应的og和review习题，发现一些神奇的地方：

先来看一道题：review V-18
18.Except for a concert performance that the composer himself staged in 1911，Scott Joplin's ragtime opera＂Treemonisha＂was not produced　until 1972，sixty-one years after its completion．
(A) Except for a concert performance that the composer himself staged
(B) Except for a concert performance with the composer himself staging it
(C) Besides a concert performance being staged by the composer himself
(D) Excepting a concert performance that the composer himself staged.
(E) With the exception of a concert performance with the staging done by the composer himself
ans：A
根据语法知识，我最后也是只剩下了A和D，并且在M书中的idiom一章中给出了：“EXCEPT FOR a final skirmish, the war was over.”的例句。那么顺理成章的选择了A，但是在书中并没有特别的说except的使用问题，所以特别来求解答。

当然最好不要用中文说except后面是同类名词。。。。except for加不同类名词。。。。因为做题确实不好区分同类不同类，包含不包含。。。。。
也搜了论坛的帖子：有NN给出“excepting在GMAT 中只能用于否定句之后”的结论。

例如：
everyone helped，not excepting him。
all  were there，not excepting them.
everyone, not excepting myself, must share the blame.

我也是不太确定那个NN的资料来源，所以贴上来。。。。。。问下下