Whether(or not)用法

perain

在NYTimes blog上看到一篇whether or not用法的小文章，简洁明了也挺能说明问题，贴上来和各位分享。
原链接：http://topics.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/whether-or-not/

Whether [or not] they are professional writers, many people are confused about whether [or not] they should use the phrase “or not” after “whether.”

The answer is simple. It depends.

In the sentence above, it’s yes in the first case and no in the second: Whether or not they are professional writers, many people are confused about whether they should use the phrase “or not” after “whether.”

Here’s what The Times’s stylebook says:

whether. Often or not is redundant after whether, but not always. The phrase may ordinarily be omitted in these cases:

? When the whether clause is the object of a verb: She wonders whether the teacher will attend. (The clause is the object of wonders.)

? When the clause is the object of a preposition: The teacher will base his decision on whether the car has been repaired. (The clause is the object of on.)

? When the clause is the subject of the sentence: Whether the car will be ready depends on the mechanic. (The clause is the subject of depends.)

But when a whether clause modifies a verb, or not is needed: They will play tomorrow whether or not it rains. (The clause modifies play.)

总之就是：在宾语从句和主语从句中省略or not, 状语从句中不能省略。

几许VV

顶楼主！               

jansonx

补充一个Ron的解释：

the short version:

you should not pick "whether or not" on the gmat.

end of story.

--

the long version:

in spoken language, you'll sometimes see "whether NOUN VERB or not" tagged onto the end of the sentence for emphasis. for instance, there's the teddy bear sentence in the post above this one.
also:
there will be a food shortage this year, whether the government subsidizes farmers or not.
this would be fine in spoken language. however. in written language, it's considered overly informal, and should be replaced by something like this:
there will be a food shortage this year, regardless of whether the government subsidizes farmers.

it is extremely unlikely that you will have to make that sort of distinction. most likely, you'll just see a clean split between "whether" and "whether or not", and you should choose the former.

jansonx

17#楼的解释容易理解

ukyo2003

这里还有个题，不知道我的理解是否正确，OG12的69题。欢迎拍砖一起探讨。

Once they had seen the report from the medical examiner, the investigators did not doubt whether the body recovered from the river was the man who had attempted to escape from the state prison.

(A) did not doubt whether the body recovered from the river was (did not doubt用法错误，需要have no doubt; body was man错误，需要was that of)
(B) have no doubt whether the body recovered from the river was (have时态错误，要求用过去时；body was man错误 )
(C) had not doubted that the body recovered from the river was (had not doubted用法错误；body was man错误)
(D) have no doubt whether the body recovered from the river was that of (have时态错误；)
(E) had no doubt that the body recovered from the river was that of (正确)

正确答案中，这里不能用whether，因为had no doubt已经表示了非常确定，不能说确定后面又接不确定“是否”。但是如果说the investigtors doubt whether the body recovered from the river was that of the man. 我感觉是可以的。这里不能用whether or not，同前面我讲述的，whether表达的是“是否”，而不是“不管”

ukyo2003

我不太看得懂为什么是宾语从句和状语从句决定whether or not，另外Whether还可以做主语。

但是我的理解是：

- 如果当whether要表达“是否”的时候，另外一种情况可以被implicit，这时候不需要or not，按照GMAT的考试原则，多余的词汇肯定错。e.g. She wonders whether the teacher will attend. 她在想老师“是否”会参加。如果改成She wonders whether or not the teach will attend. 就错误了，是说“她wonder的内容是不管老师明天去不去”还是“她wonder的内容是老师明天是否去”

- 但是当whether要表达“不管如何”的时候，另外一种情况一定要明示/explicit，这时候需要or not，否则逻辑意思不对。e.g. They will play tomorrow whether or not it rains. 他们“不管”明天下不下雨都要去玩。如果改成They will play tomorrow whether it rains. 就有歧义，是表达“明天是否下雨，他们要去玩”还是“不管明天下不下雨，他们要去玩”

- whether做主语的时候e.g. Whether you like jazz will influence your opinion of this new club. 表达是“你是否喜欢Jazz影响你对俱乐部的选择”，而不是“不管你喜不喜欢Jazz影响你对俱乐部的选择”。这里就不能用or not

所以最后还是逻辑意思决定了有没有not

大叮田

就在找这个 谢谢楼主分享

0livia

太有用了，感谢楼主！

woainigmat

顶顶的顶顶顶顶顶！

raylu1987

神贴啊！！！谢谢楼主！