| 词组 | whether or not |
| 释义 | whether or not Numerous commentators have pointed out that or not is not always necessary after whether, as in "We don't know whether or not they'll come." They naturally recommend that or not should be omitted whenever possible, on the usual assumption that fewer words make better prose. It should be noted, however, that this use of or not is more than 300 years old and is common among educated speakers and writers. It is, in short, perfectly good, idiomatic English: • ... will you go and see it and tell me whether they murder it or not —George Bernard Shaw, letter, 28 Nov. 1895 • ... never knew whether or not to insert the names of his parents —John Updike, Couples, 1968 • ... determines whether or not a patient will be accepted —Joanne Nadol, Johns Hopkins Mag., Summer 1971 • ... Mr. Truman turned to the general and asked whether or not he was satisfied —Dean Acheson, quoted in Merle Miller, Plain Speaking, 1973 • ... trying to determine whether or not she is wearing a bra —Jay Mclnerney, Bright Lights, Big City, 1984 • I don't know whether or not you are a writer of gob-bledygook —Bailey 1984 The option of omitting or not only exists when the clause introduced by whether serves as the subject of the sentence or as the object of a preposition or verb, as in the above quotations. When the clause has an adverbial function, or not must be retained: • Whether or not one agrees with Vidal's judgments, there are some trenchant formulations —Simon 1980 • ... adhere to some kind of ... methodology, whether or not it works —Daniels 1983 Of course, the simplest way to determine whether the or not can be omitted is to see if the sentence still makes sense without it. An alternative to whether or not is whether or no, which is discussed at NO 3. |
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