What is the difference between if and whether

No or not? Nowadays , these days or today? Open or opened? Opportunity or possibility? Opposite or in front of? Other , others , the other or another?

Out or out of? Permit or permission? Person , persons or people? Pick or pick up? Play or game? Politics , political , politician or policy? Price or prize? Principal or principle? Quiet or quite? Raise or rise? Remember or remind? Right or rightly? Rob or steal? Say or tell? So that or in order that? Sometimes or sometime?

Sound or noise? Speak or talk? Such or so? Towards or toward? Wait or wait for? Wake , wake up or awaken? Worth or worthwhile? Noun phrases: dependent words Noun phrases: order Noun phrases: uses Noun phrases: noun phrases and verbs Noun phrases: two noun phrases together. Pronouns: possessive my , mine , your , yours , etc.

Pronouns: reflexive myself , themselves , etc. Pronouns: indefinite - body , - one , - thing , - where Pronouns: one , you , we , they Relative pronouns Questions: interrogative pronouns what , who Someone , somebody , something , somewhere That. Dates Measurements Number Time. Geographical places Names and titles: addressing people Nationalities, languages, countries and regions Place names.

Reported speech Reported speech: direct speech Reported speech: indirect speech. British and American English Dialect Double negatives and usage Formal and informal language Newspaper headlines Register Slang Standard and non-standard language Swearing and taboo expressions. Past simple I worked Past continuous I was working Past continuous or past simple?

Past simple or present perfect? Used to Past perfect simple I had worked Past perfect continuous I had been working Past perfect simple or past perfect continuous? Past perfect simple or past simple? Past verb forms referring to the present Past: typical errors.

Present continuous I am working Present perfect continuous I have been working Present perfect simple I have worked Present perfect simple or present perfect continuous? Present perfect: typical errors Present simple I work Present simple or present continuous? Present: typical errors Present verb forms referring to the past. Finite and non-finite verbs Imperative clauses Be quiet! Infinitives with and without to Infinitive: active or passive? Perfect infinitive with to to have worked Verbs: basic forms Verbs: formation.

Hate , like , love and prefer Hear , see , etc. Get passive Have something done Passive: forms Passives with and without an agent Passive: uses Passive: other forms Passive: typical errors. Conditionals Conditionals: if Conditionals: other expressions unless, should, as long as Conditionals: typical errors If only In case of Suppose , supposing and what if Wish.

Word classes and phrase classes Word formation Prefixes Suffixes Compounds Abbreviations, initials and acronyms -ish and -y Diminutives - let , - y and mini- Hyphens. These last two sentences show why it is better to use "whether" when you have two possibilities, and that is why I recommend using "whether" instead of "if" when you have two possibilities, even when the meaning wouldn't change if you use "if.

Here's a final pair of examples: Call Squiggly if you are going to arrive Friday. Call Squiggly whether or not you are going to arrive Friday. The first sentence is conditional. The second sentence is not conditional.

To sum up, use "whether" when you have two discrete choices or mean "regardless of whether," and use "if" for conditional sentences. Why did I say, "Call Squiggly whether or not you are going to arrive Friday?

In my first example, where I said, "Squiggly didn't know whether Aardvark would arrive Friday," adding "or not" wouldn't change the meaning or emphasis. On the other hand, you need the full phrase "whether or not" when you mean " regardless of whether. Call Squiggly regardless of whether you are going to arrive Friday. Finally, a listener wrote to say that her boss was driving her up the wall by saying "rather or not" instead of "whether or not.

The most important fact to remember when you are using these two conjunctions is that if and whether are interchangeable in some cases, but not always. The main differenc e between if and whether is that if is always used in conditionals whereas whether can be used in all other instances expect conditionals.

Let us first look at the instances where these two words can be used interchangeably, then move on to the difference between if and whether. However, in this construction, using whether considered is more accepted and common.

If is always used to introduce a condition. Ready for the Test? Here is a confirmatory test for this lesson. This test can also be: Edited i. Printed to create a handout. Sent electronically to friends or students.