General Question

[ketkoag]

Please lemme know which of the 3 statements below is correct an why?

1) Whether John decides to go to the party or whether he stays at home is
not the issue.

2) Whether John decides to go to the party or stays at home is
not the issue.

3) Whether John decides to go to the party or he stays at home is
not the issue.

[scoobydooby]

1) is redundant. "whether" implies a choice or an alternative, so we do not need to repeat the word whether.


2) i dont like the "stays". would like this better if it used "stay" instead of "stays"

Whether John decides to go to the party or (to) stay at home is not the issue- would maintain the parallelism.


3) is wordy. since there is only one subject, John, we do not need the "he" again

[narendran]

1) is redundant. "whether" implies a choice or an alternative, so we do not need to repeat the word whether.


2) i dont like the "stays". would like this better if it used "stay" instead of "stays"

Whether John decides to go to the party or (to) stay at home is not the issue- would maintain the parallelism.


3) is wordy. since there is only one subject, John, we do not need the "he" again

Dear Scoobydooby
May I engage you in a discussion? This is my opinion and I am subject to correction

“Whether John decides to go to the party or (to) stay at home is not the issue”- would maintain the parallelism.”

You are using infinitives to go or (to) stay. Fine! Your intention is perfect. But my point here is that in correlative conjunctions, such as whether - or, either - or, neither - nor, not- but, etc, we must use parallel structure immediately after both the arms of the correlation. Here the right usage of idiom is “either x or y”, wherein x and y both should be in the same form. In your example, you are using - decides - after whether, which is in present tense but an infinitive (to) stay after –or-. This is unidiomatic. Am I right or wrong?

I will give you another example
The fallen person rose on his feet not in a moment but got up painfully.
Here the word after not is - in a moment – a prepositional noun and after but - got up – a verb. We must use either nouns or verbs in both cases. The correct choice will be:

The fallen person did not rise on his feet in a moment but got up painfully. (Or)
The fallen person rose on his feet not in a moment but in a state of pain

Pardon me if I am wrong but more importantly do please tell me so and why?

[scoobydooby]

hi narendran,

"Whether John decides to go to the party or (decides to) stay at home is not the issue- maintains the parallelism"

the above doesnt breach any idiom/parallelism rule as both sides of "or" are parallel. the verb "decides" is implied, so " to go or to stay at home" keeps the X and Y in "X or Y" parallel.


1) The fallen person did not rise on his feet in a moment but got up painfully
-this is parallel as "did not rise" is parallel to "got up". both denote action and are in the simple past tense.

2) The fallen person rose on his feet not in a moment but in a state of pain
=>the X and Y in the idiom "not x but y" should be parallel in form, logic. the sentence though parallel in form is not parallel in meaning.
in a moment denotes time and in a state of pain denotes condition

would have been better if it said:
the man rose not on his feet not in a moment but in 1 hour (or)
the man rose on his feet not in comfort but in great pain

ps: just my opinion. may be mistaken. we still dont know the answer to the orginal question by ketkoag

[ketkoag]

Here the correct answer as per the OE is statement 1 and the explanation is that there are 2 statements in statement 1 i.e. whether john decides..... or whether he stays.....
Its not sc problem. It is a fact mentioned in SC notes online.
Anyways thanks for the explanation, moreover, i agree with both of your explanations in different context.