As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish,[…]. My servant is, so far as I am concerned, welcome to as many votes as he can get.[…]I do not suppose that it matters much in realitywhether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with gentlemen in private life.
The incident immediately revived the debate about goal-line technology, with a final decision onwhether it is introduced expected to be taken in Zurich on 5 July.
Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless. One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished.
Introduces a disjunctiveadverbial clause qualifying the main clause (with correlativeor).
He's coming,whether you like it or not.
I'll enjoy playing with my friends again,whether we win or lose.
Whether or not you're successful, you can be sure you did your best.
Traditional grammar classifies senses 1 and 2 aswhether heading anoun clause, but classifies sense 3 aswhether heading anadverbial clause.
There is some overlap in usage between senses 1 and 3, in that a yes-or-no interrogative content clause can list the two possibilities explicitly in a number of ways:
Do you know whether he’s coming or staying?
Do you know whether he’s coming or not?
Do you know whether or not he’s coming?
Further, in the first two of these examples, the “or staying” and “or not” may be added as an afterthought (sometimes indicated in writing with a comma before), such that thewhether may be uttered in sense 3 and then amended to sense 1.
Theor not can be placed afterwhether or after the verb.
Sense 3 does not have a counterpart that introduces only a single possibility and thus requiresor not if no other possibilities are presented. The following is ungrammatical, for example:
*He’s coming, whether you like it.
Grammatical versions are:
He’s coming, whether you like it or not.
He’s coming, whether you like it or dislike it.
The main verb in adverbial clauses withwhether is sometimes in thesubjunctive mood, especially if the verb isbe:
I shall be glad to play any instrument, whether it be a violin or a trumpet.
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions atWiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
In the morning sowe thy seede, and in the euening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest notwhether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
[1633],George Herbert, “The Pearl”, in [Nicholas Ferrar], editor,The Temple. Sacred Poems, and Private Ejaculations, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire:[…] Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel; and are to be sold by Francis Green,[…],→OCLC:
I told them we were in a country where we all knew there was a great deal of gold, and that all the world sent ships thither to get it; that we did not indeed know where it was, and so we might get a great deal, or a little, we did not knowwhether;[…]
On the 17th, we came in full view of a great island, or continent (for we knew notwhether;) on the south side whereof was a small neck of land jutting out into the sea, and a creek too shallow to hold a ship of above one hundred tons.
