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English 1b3 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Whether...

Which of the following are correct uses of 'whether...'?

Thanks

He played games when he was at school, whether it be soccer, cricket, or rugby.

He played games when he was young, whether it was soccer, cricket, or rugby.

You can buy food of all types from the cafe at my work, whether it is scones, muffins, or sandwiches.

There are plenty of fights at school, whether they are between two people or a group.
  

Top answer

Hi, Can you please define a little what you mean by 'correct'? Clive

  • Hi, Can you please define a little what you mean by 'correct'?
  • Clive
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13 Answers
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Hi,



Can you please define a little what you mean by 'correct'?Emotion: smile



Clive
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Hi,

Um, I suppose I mean, are the sentences grammatically correct? Are they correct?

Ta
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Hi,

So would you say 'correct' includes sentences that no-one is at all likely to actually say? That's often a key consideration on the Forum. And that's how I tend to view your examples.



Anyway, let me comment on them in more detail.

I view these as difficult to deal with. I see them as largely idiomatic.



In practice, you'd often hear si
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Hi

Thanks very much, Clive.

It seems I'm using 'whether...' incorrectly then, huh... I'm sure I'm using it the way I hear people saying it, but I could be wrong. Below is another example. Does this one work?

They will be using recyclable resources only because they know it will make them more profit, whether directly or indirectly.

Do you think I'm correct to s
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Hi again,

It seems I'm using 'whether...' incorrectly then, huh... I'm sure I'm using it the way I hear people saying it, but I could be wrong. Below is another example. Does this one work?

They will be using recyclable resources only because they know it will make them more profit, whether directly or indirectly. Yes, sounds OK.

Do you think I'm correct to say the mean
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CliveIn both examples, 'whether' suggests to me that these are the only alternatives.

But either wouldn't suggest these are the only alternatives?
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Hi,

But either wouldn't suggest these are the only alternatives?

I wasn't trying to discuss 'either'.



'Either' deals with two alternatives. 'Whether' can encompass more than two, as in my 'games' example.

Clive
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Hi,

I think what has thrown me off somewhat is that you differentiate between the word either and whether in all cases, whereas the dictionary gives a third definition of whether, which states the words can be synoymous. Perhaps this definition is not commonly used though (and perhaps none of my sentences above use whether in this way), so perhaps I should put it out of sight, out of min
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Hi,

any man, either liberal or conservative, would agree with me

any man, whether liberal or conservative, would agree with me



To me, 'whether' seems to bring a bit of 'attitude'
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Hello. I am just writing to say that this post was very useful to me.

It exactly talks on what I am worried about.

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