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 #2 (permalink) Sat Dec 30, 2006 15:24 pm Whether |
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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. |
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Conchita
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| #3 (permalink) Sat Dec 30, 2006 15:30 pm Whether or ...? |
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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 |
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Foah
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| #4 (permalink) Sun Dec 31, 2006 9:46 am Whether or ...? |
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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.
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Stew.t.
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| #5 (permalink) Sun Dec 31, 2006 11:18 am Whether or ...? |
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| 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. |
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Conchita
Language Coach
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| #6 (permalink) Sun Dec 31, 2006 13:30 pm Whether or ...? |
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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 |
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Foah
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| #7 (permalink) Sun Dec 31, 2006 16:17 pm Whether or ...? |
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| 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). |
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Conchita
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| #8 (permalink) Sun Dec 31, 2006 20:23 pm Whether or ...? |
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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?
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A
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Alan
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| #9 (permalink) Wed Jan 03, 2007 22:14 pm Whether or ...? |
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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 |
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Foah
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| #10 (permalink) Wed Jan 03, 2007 22:47 pm Whether or ...? |
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'tis = it is, shortened and scrunched together.
hehe
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| Meaning of 'Switched to a style', 'Fork for', MBO, LBO, etc | The noun 'work' and its plural |
