whether and either, whether...(or).

[eggcracker]

I came across difficult sentences.Please give me some explanation about each of the two sentences including 'whether'.

1."With very prominent people, their affairs, whether you're a movie star or a politician, quickly becomes public interest."
I think this sentence above have two option. Can I use 'either' instead of 'whether' in this sentence?


2."On Sunday, millions of people in Africa's largest country begin voting on whether to split it in two."
I'm confused because I've thought that 'whether' should be always followed by 'or not', or 'or' in the sentence. So I guessed the 'or not' is left out.
In the sentence 2, I think the sentence means as same as "On Sunday,..... whether to split in two or not."
Does native speakers usually omit "or not" after "whether"?

 

[5jj]

1."With very prominent people, their affairs, whether you're a movie star or a politician, quickly become[STRIKE]s[/STRIKE] public interest."
I think this sentence above [STRIKE]have[/STRIKE]has two options. Can I use 'either' instead of 'whether' in this sentence?

No

2."On Sunday, millions of people in Africa's largest country begin voting on whether to split it in two."
I'm confused because I've thought that 'whether' should be always followed by 'or not', or 'or' in the sentence.

No, though if it's not there it's usually implied.

In [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] sentence 2, I think the sentence means the as same as "On Sunday,..... whether to split in two or not."
Do[STRIKE]es [/STRIKE]native speakers usually omit "or not" after "whether"?

It depends whether (or not) they want to make the implicit explicit.

 

[emsr2d2]

1."With very prominent people, their affairs, whether you're a movie star or a politician, quickly becomes public interest."
I think this sentence above have two option. Can I use 'either' instead of 'whether' in this sentence?

I can't work out why the writer suddenly changed "they" to "you". It would have been much better as "With very prominent people, their affairs, whether they're movie stars or politicians, quickly become public interest." The original should certainly have used "become" not "becomes" because it refers back to "affairs".

emsr2d2

 

[5jj]

I agree with ems. I did 'strike through' the s of 'become[STRIKE]s[/STRIKE]', but it doesn't show up very well, as you see here.

 

[emsr2d2]

I agree with ems. I did 'strike through' the s of 'become[STRIKE]s[/STRIKE]', but it doesn't show up very well, as you see here.

So you did. I couldn't see it and even now it's difficult to see! I've recently taken to not just striking through an "s" but also changing its colour to a paler grey in the hopes that it will be clear, or striking through the entire word and replacing it with the "s-less" one.

 

[Tdol]

Does it help to underline:

Become[strike]s[/strike]