Whether

Question

Hi,Whether they didn't accept the offer in the first place because they were being too cautious puzzles me.Could someone explain why this sentence is ungrammatical?I'd appreciate your help.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Whether requires a choice between two or more alternatives - expressed or implied.
You can't have whether combined with because - the choice is still undecided.

Your clause has a result of a decision and a reason for it - not an open choice...
they didn't accept the offer in the first place because they were being too cautious

Here are some uses of "whether."
Whether he stays or leaves is of no concern to me.
I don't know whether they accepted the offer ( or not).

Jooney · Answer

Thank you for the reply, Astars. Could I ask you another question?

Why they didn't accept the offer in the first place puzzles me.

What exactly does this sentence mean?

interpretation 1: I know that they didn't accept the offer. But why? They didn't because they were being cautious? They didn't because they didn't like us? I'm looking for a reason.

interpretation 2: The reason why they didn't accept the offer puzzles me. (Here the reason=they were being too cautious)

Which interpretation is correct?

CalifJim · Answer

If I may **** in,

A native speaker might be able to force himself to accept interpretation 2, but I have serious doubts whether that would be his first way of hearing or reading the sentence.

When I read it, I thought only of interpretation 1 until I read the rest of your text. Then I saw that the writer just maybe could have meant it in the sense of interpretation 2, but it's a feat of mental gymnastics for my brain to understand the sentence as indicated in interpretation 2.

I would not want the job of constructing an elaborate context in which interpretation 2 is the obviously correct meaning!

CJ

Jooney · Answer

Thank you CJ. So the "whether test" that I tried the other day should have been constructed as follows:

Whether they didn't accept the offer because they were being cautious or because the price wasn't good enough or for some other reason puzzles me.

Here you take it for granted that they didn't accept the offer and wonder about a reason for the refusal.

Correct?

Anonymous · Answer

You're making things very difficult by insisting on using the phrase "puzzles me."  I can see how this has a certain appeal because of the imagery it evokes.  However, the word, "puzzle," as a verb, is rarely used in English, because, like a puzzle, it denotes something very complicated, too complicated to discuss in ordinary speech.  Just introducing it into a sentence makes things impossibly complicated.

CalifJim · Answer

jooneySo the "whether test" that I tried the other day should have been constructed as follows: Whether they didn't accept the offer because they were being cautious or because the price wasn't good enough or for some other reason puzzles me. Here you take it for granted that they didn't accept the offer and wonder about a reason for the refusal.

I'm not familiar with the "whether test", so I can't comment on that, but everything else you say here makes perfect sense to me!

I definitely take it for granted that they didn't accept the offer when I read that sentence. Yes.
Note, though, that both of those interpretations (1 and 2) take that for granted.

I think it's just the wondering about a reason that's different in 1 and 2.

CJ

P.S. I noticed an earlier question you had on another thread, namely, can a why-clause be a fused relative. Let me just say that Huddleston accepts this. He gives the example "That's why I'm leaving you", where all but "That's" is a fused relative construction, according to him.

CJ

Jooney · Answer

Thank you very much for the help, CJ. <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

CalifJim · Answer

You're welcome. (I added a post script to my previous post. Don't forget to read that as well.)

CJ

Avangi · Answer

Anonymous However, the word, "puzzle," as a verb, is rarely used in English

I respectfully disagree. - A.

Anonymous · Answer

This kind of post helps no one.  Give examples of why you disagree.  I'd be interested in hearing them.  If I'm wrong I'd like to learn why.

Whether

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions