"whether or not" vs "whether"

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"whether or not" vs "whether"

by jsl » Sat Aug 16, 2008 1:52 am
To this day, researchers and theorists debate whether bubonic plague caused The Black Death, a pandemic that swept the world in the middle of the fourteenth century

a. whether
b. whether or not
c. about whether
d. as to whether
e. if

Hi guys.... can you tell me what the core difference is between answer choices a and b? Is the term "whether or not" always redundant or can it be valid in some contexts?
Source: — Sentence Correction |

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by pepeprepa » Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:38 am
I think you have to use them as follow:

With whether
To this day, researchers and theorists debate whether bubonic plague caused The Black Death.

With whether...or not
To this day, researchers and theorists debate whether bubonic plague caused The Black Death or not.

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by aj5105 » Sun Aug 17, 2008 11:43 pm
OA please..

i would go with the usage of just 'weather'

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by stubbornp » Tue Aug 19, 2008 8:30 pm
whether or not is always almost incorrect....

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by NSNguyen » Wed Aug 20, 2008 9:15 pm
IMO: A
whether is expressed a doubt
Whether phrase or not
Please share your idea and your reasoning :D
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