Whether/if

Question

I was wondering if they were a girl or a boy.I was wondering whether they were a girl or a boy.What's the difference between 'whether' and 'if' in such cases? THANKS.

RandomGuy · Accepted Answer

Use whether to show two alternatives (the second possibility or or not may be implied, in which case if may sometimes be used instead), and in other cases, use if in conditional constructions.

I'll do it if you buy me ice cream.
I was wondering if they were a girl.
I was wondering whether they were a girl.
I was wondering whether they were a girl or a boy.

Whatchadoin · Answer

Aspara GusUse whether to show two alternatives

I didn't know that. Is it incorrect to use 'if' in such cases?

RandomGuy · Answer

whatchadoinI didn't know that. Is it incorrect to use 'if' in such cases?

No, but if in place of whether can sometimes slightly change the meaning of the sentence. Mignon Fogarty explains this quite well in her article:

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/if-versus-whether.aspx

BillJ · Answer

whatchadoinI was wondering if they were a girl or a boy.I was wondering whether they were a girl or a boy.What's the difference between 'whether' and 'if' in such cases?

There's no real difference in your particular examples other than a small one of style (see below).

Typically the subordinators "if" and "whether" are interchangeable, but there are instances when "if" cannot be used, for example:

[1] "I'm going to see her [whether / *if you like it or not]".
[2] "She can't make up her mind [whether / *if to accept]".
[3] "It depends on [whether / *if we have enough time left]".

[1] is an exhaustive conditional construction - so called because it covers all the possibilities. [2] is an infinitive, and in [3] the clause is complement of a preposition ("on"). In such cases, only "whether" is permitted.

In constructions where both "whether" and "if" are grammatically allowed, a preference for one or the other shows up in examples like these:

[4] "I asked them if they'd like to stay to dinner".
[5] "You should explain whether they are required to provide detailed answers or only short ones".

[4] is an example of indirect reported speech (the original question being "Would you like to stay to dinner?"). "If" tends to be preferred in such cases; "whether" would give more prominence to the question itself than to the indirect speech act because it focuses on the choice between possible answers. [5] highlights the fact that some verbs such as "explain", "investigate" and "judge" favour "whether".

Generally, there is a small difference in style level: other things being equal, formal style will favour "whether", informal style "if".

BillJ

Whatchadoin · Answer

Should I always use "whether" when "or not" is included in a sentence? As in: I didn't ask whether the sentences were natural or not.

BillJ · Answer

whatchadoinShould I always use "whether" when "or not" is included in a sentence? As in: I didn't ask whether the sentences were natural or not.

Not necessarily. It depends on the position in the sentence of "or not":

[1] "I don't know [whether / *if or not she'll accept]".

[2] "I don't know whether / if she'll accept or not]".

When "or not" immediately follows the subordinator, as in [1], only "whether" is permitted. But when "or not" follows the first coordinate, as in [2] both "whether" and "if" are permitted.

And, of course, if "or not" is used in the kind of exhaustive conditional construction that I mentioned earlier, "if" is not permitted irrespective of where "or not" is located.

BillJ

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Here's a small additional comment on the original examples.
I was wondering if they were a girl or a boy.
I was wondering whether they were a girl or a boy.

Although 'they ' is sometimes used for a person where the *** is unknown, it sounds odd to me in both of these sentences.

If there is more than one person, I'd say
eg I was wondering if they were girls or boys.
eg I was wondering whether they were girls or boys.

If there is just one person, I'd say
eg I was wondering if that / he or she was a girl or a boy.
eg I was wondering whether that / he or she was a girl or a boy.

But . . .

If I thought it was probably a boy, I'd just say 'he'.
If I thought it was probably a girl, I'd just 'she'.

Clive

RandomGuy · Answer

CliveAlthough 'they ' is sometimes used for a person where the *** is unknown, it sounds odd to me in both of these sentences.

Yet another reason to avoid using they as a gender-neutral pronoun…

Whatchadoin · Answer

Should I keep with "s/he" instead of "they" when talking and writing?

RandomGuy · Answer

whatchadoinShould I keep with "s/he" instead of "they" when talking and writing?

These days, it's generally acceptable to use they to refer to both genders, but I would avoid it in formal writing. Unless I'm referring to a group of females, I usually use just he.

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