Could someone please explain the usage of Whether and Whether or not, more specifically instances when the use of whether or not is justified
thanks
Whether Vs. Whether or not
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IMO whether or not is a clear case of redundancy.scoobydooby wrote:Could someone please explain the usage of Whether and Whether or not, more specifically instances when the use of whether or not is justified
thanks
I think you should never use whether or not in GMAT.
Let me know if anybody thinks otherwise.
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“Whether” works fine on its own in most contexts: “I wonder whether I forgot to turn off the stove?” But when you mean “regardless of whether” it has to be followed by “or not” somewhere in the sentence: “We need to leave for the airport in five minutes whether you’ve found your teddy bear or not.”
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PC is right. "Whether or not" is almost incorrect on GMAtparallel_chase wrote:IMO whether or not is a clear case of redundancy.scoobydooby wrote:Could someone please explain the usage of Whether and Whether or not, more specifically instances when the use of whether or not is justified
thanks
I think you should never use whether or not in GMAT.
Let me know if anybody thinks otherwise.
We use "whether to" in GMAT
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"Whether or not" is not trusted on GMATlogitech wrote:“Whether” works fine on its own in most contexts: “I wonder whether I forgot to turn off the stove?” But when you mean “regardless of whether” it has to be followed by “or not” somewhere in the sentence: “We need to leave for the airport in five minutes whether you’ve found your teddy bear or not.”
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MG SC pg. 124
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- lunarpower
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the short version:
you should not pick "whether or not" on the gmat.
end of story.
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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.
you should not pick "whether or not" on the gmat.
end of story.
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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.
Ron has been teaching various standardized tests for 20 years.
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Pueden hacerle preguntas a Ron en castellano
Potete chiedere domande a Ron in italiano
On peut poser des questions à Ron en français
Voit esittää kysymyksiä Ron:lle myös suomeksi
--
Quand on se sent bien dans un vêtement, tout peut arriver. Un bon vêtement, c'est un passeport pour le bonheur.
Yves Saint-Laurent
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Learn more about ron