Page 119 - Practical English Usage 3ed - Michael Swan, Oxford

102
besides, except and apart from
These expressions are sometimes confused.
Besides usually adds: it is like saying with, or plus (+).
Besides the violin, he plays the piano and the flute. (He plays three instruments.)
Except subtracts: it is like saying without, or minus (-). [like all musical instruments except the violin.
Apart from can be used in both senses.
Apart from the violin, he plays the piano and the flute. (= Besides the
violin ...)
[like all musical instruments apartfrom the violin.(= ... except the violin.)
After no, nobody, nothing and similar negative words, the three expressions can all have the same meaning.
He has nothing besides I except I apart from his salary. (= He only has his salary.)
For the use of besides as an adverbial discourse marker. see 157.1 I. For beside, see 101. For except and except for, see 194.
103 bet 1 use
[ bet (you) can be used in an informal style to mean 'I think it's probable that'. That is usually dropped.
I bet (you) she's not at home.
(More natural than I bet (you) that she's not at home.)
I'll bet ... is also possible.
['U bet you she's not at home.
2 tenses
After I bet (you), we often use a present tense to refer to the future.
[bet (you) they don't come this evening. (OR [bet (you) they won't come . ..) I bet (you) the Conservatives (will) lose.
3 two objects
When bet is used to talk about real bets, it can be followed by two objects: the person with whom the bet is made, and the money or thing that is bet.
I bet you £5 it doesn't rain this week.
My father bet my mother dinner at the Ritz that she would marry him. He
won, but she never bought him the dinner. Bet is irregular (bet - bet - bet).
104 better
1 'recovered'
When better means 'recovered from an illness', it can be used with completely or quite (unlike other comparative adjectives).
Don't start work again until you're quite better.
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