|
|
 Sat Dec 30, 2006 16:24 pm Whether |
|
|
I'm not sure how you use it, but the conjunction 'whether' means 'if' and expresses alternative possibilities or doubt: I don't know whether it is true; it depends on whether we have enough money or not.
It can also mean 'either': whether by day or by night. |
|
Conchita
Language Coach
Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 2702
Location: Madrid, Spain
|
|
| Sat Dec 30, 2006 16:30 pm Whether or ...? |
|
|
Hi Conchita!
Thanks for your explanation! Like I mentioned I rarely came across "whether" at this site and I wonderred whether/if/ either I might use it the wrong way or whether/if/either this three words might be substituted from another optional?
Michael |
|
Fan of Arabian horses
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 20 Apr 2006
Posts: 813
|
 |
| Sun Dec 31, 2006 10:46 am Whether or ...? |
|
|
Hi Michael,
"Whether" is a tad (bit) old fashioned so maybe that is why, "if" is it?s modern day replacement. But not wrong to use it how you do.
_________________
Please meet Stewart Tunncilff |
|
stew.t.
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 14 Dec 2006
Posts: 399
Location: Leipzig, Germany
|
|
| Sun Dec 31, 2006 12:18 pm Whether or ...? |
|
|
| Fan of Arabian horses wrote: | | I wondered whether/if/ either I might use it the wrong way or whether/if/either...? |
'Either' is the odd one out in your sentence, Michael. Don't use it when you mean to say 'if'. 'I wonder if' is the most commonly used expression. |
|
Conchita
Language Coach
Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 2702
Location: Madrid, Spain
|
|
| Sun Dec 31, 2006 14:30 pm Whether or ...? |
|
|
Hi Conchita, Hi Stewart!
Thank you again! I don?t know why but anyhow I do like the word "whether" more than "if" at several occasions whether seeming a tad/bit old fashioned!
Conchita, does it make sense or is there a correct sense if I write the sentence you qouted "I wondered whether/if I might use them either"?
Michael |
|
Fan of Arabian horses
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 20 Apr 2006
Posts: 813
|
|
| Sun Dec 31, 2006 17:17 pm Whether or ...? |
|
|
| Fan of Arabian horses wrote: | | Conchita, does it make sense or is there a correct sense if I write the sentence you qouted "I wondered whether/if I might use them either"? |
Your sentence just needs a little editing:
I wonder(ed) whether/if I might use either (of them). |
|
Conchita
Language Coach
Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 2702
Location: Madrid, Spain
|
|
| Sun Dec 31, 2006 21:23 pm Whether or ...? |
|
|
Hi Michael.
When in doubt, look at the Master, Bill Shakespeare:
| Quote: | To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
|
A
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Briefly |
|
Alan
Co-founder
Joined: 27 Sep 2003
Posts: 7140
Location: UK
|
|
| Wed Jan 03, 2007 23:14 pm Whether or ...? |
|
|
Hi Alan!
Hmm..... I think Shakespeare offers the listener a choice between two opportunties "whether...... or.........", don?t he?
Nevertheless, hard stuff! I?m not quite sure whether ?tis might be a typo or an old-fashioned form of it?s or what?s the meaning?
Additional I don?t really know why Shakespeare calls it nobler in the sense of honorable?
Oh dear, really hard stuff if you?re a literary booby like I am! I myself hardly was able to understand Heinrich von Kleist?s "The Broken Pitcher"!
Michael |
|
Fan of Arabian horses
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 20 Apr 2006
Posts: 813
|
|
| Wed Jan 03, 2007 23:47 pm Whether or ...? |
|
|
'tis = it is, shortened and scrunched together.
hehe
_________________
Billie Jean is not my lover. Hee. |
|
prezbucky
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 2018
Location: Nashville, TN (USA)
|
|
|
| Meaning of 'Switched to a style', 'Fork for', MBO, LBO, etc | The noun 'work' and its plural |
