whether it is / whether it is not

Status
Not open for further replies.

pinkie9

Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2010
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
As a result of a review, we found some points considered to be mistakes in the documents as follows.
Please provide your view on whether they should be corrected.

In this case, if I say "whether they should not be corrected", will the meaning change?
Will it mean the writer is saying "they should be corrected, shouldn't they?"

Thank you.

P.S. I guess some people would say it should be "whether or not they should be corrected", but the writer isn't just asking Yes or No here. The writer thinks "They should be corrected, shouldn't they?"
 
Last edited:

tzfujimino

Key Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2007
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
As a result of a review, we found some points considered to be mistakes in the documents as follows.
Please provide your view on whether they should be corrected.

In this case, if I say "whether they should not be corrected", will the meaning change?
Will it mean the writer is saying "they should be corrected, shouldn't they?"

Thank you.

P.S. I guess some people would say it should be "whether or not they should be corrected", but the writer isn't just asking Yes or No here. The writer thinks "They should be corrected, shouldn't they?"

Hello, pinkie.:-D

I feel "we found some points considered to be mistakes in the documents as follows." can be improved in some way.
And I'm not really sure if you could use 'whether they should not be corrected'. I'm not familiar with this construction.

"Please provide your views on whether they should be corrected." sounds fine to me.

I think we'll need some native speakers' comments.
 

Chicken Sandwich

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Netherlands
P.S. I guess some people would say it should be "whether or not they should be corrected", but the writer isn't just asking Yes or No here. The writer thinks "They should be corrected, shouldn't they?"

"Whether" is used when there are two options. The "or not" after "whether" is redundant, but it can be used for emphasis. In this case there are two options:
1) they should be corrected.
2) they should not be corrected.

The double negative in your second example makes things unnecessarily complicated. There are once again two options:
1) they should not be corrected.
2) they should not be not corrected.
 
Last edited:

pinkie9

Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2010
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
"Whether" is used when there are two options. The "or not" after "whether" is redundant, but it can be used for emphasis. In this case there are two options:
1) they should be corrected.
2) they should not be corrected.

The double negative in your second example makes things unnecessarily complicated. There are once again two options:
1) they should not be corrected.
2) they should not be not corrected.

I know "or not" after "whether" can be omitted (that's why I omitted it in my first post but wrote an explanation about it.)
What I'd like to know (I'm not still sure even after reading your reply) is:
- Is "whether they should not be corrected" different from "whether they should be corrected" in the meaning?
- Does it mean the writer is saying "they should be corrected, shouldn't they?"

Thank you.
 

MikeNewYork

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I know "or not" after "whether" can be omitted (that's why I omitted it in my first post but wrote an explanation about it.)
What I'd like to know (I'm not still sure even after reading your reply) is:
- Is "whether they should not be corrected" different from "whether they should be corrected" in the meaning?
- Does it mean the writer is saying "they should be corrected, shouldn't they?"

Thank you.

I don't think the writer is saying they should be corrected. The writer is asking if they should be corrected. To me it suggests that writer is not certain about the "mistakes".
 

pinkie9

Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2010
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
I don't think the writer is saying they should be corrected. The writer is asking if they should be corrected. To me it suggests that writer is not certain about the "mistakes".

Is there any way I can add a nuance of "They should be corrected, shouldn't they?" to "Please provide your view on whether they should be corrected" (without directly saying so)?
 

MikeNewYork

VIP Member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Is there any way I can add a nuance of "They should be corrected, shouldn't they?" to "Please provide your view on whether they should be corrected" (without directly saying so)?

Why a nuance?
 

philo2009

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
In general we do not use this construction, since 'whether' automatically entails both positive and negative possibilities.

However, in rather old-fashioned BrE usage one occasionally comes across a very tentative use of a negative VP after 'whether', e.g. in a sentence such as

I don't know whether I oughtn't perhaps to have said something...

serving to convey the speaker's lack of confidence. In the case of your sentence, however, it wouldn't sound natural.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top