Incorrect usage of many idioms abounds. One of the lesser known instances of correct usage involves the prepositions if and whether. Knowing which one to use is easy, however, if you know how many possibilities your sentence contains.
Take the example in the cropped image here. The writer here communicates a testing service which can indicate compliance or non-compliance with customer requirements. The writer also uses whether when the correct choice is to use if.
What is the difference? If is used only if the sentence has one possibility. Whether is used only if the sentence has more than one possibility (often connected with the coordinating conjunction or). While the fix here may be obvious, that obvious selection is only one option available to the writer.
Option #1: Exchange whether for if
The obvious choice remedies the sentence because the sentence contains only one object (requirements).
Take the example in the cropped image here. The writer here communicates a testing service which can indicate compliance or non-compliance with customer requirements. The writer also uses whether when the correct choice is to use if.
What is the difference? If is used only if the sentence has one possibility. Whether is used only if the sentence has more than one possibility (often connected with the coordinating conjunction or). While the fix here may be obvious, that obvious selection is only one option available to the writer.
Option #1: Exchange whether for if
The obvious choice remedies the sentence because the sentence contains only one object (requirements).
. . . to determine if they meet your requirements.
Option #2: Provide a second possibility
The writer can continue to use whether by providing an extra possibility. In this case, the possible results of the testing will be compliance or non-compliance, so the writer includes both possibilities in the sentence.
The writer can continue to use whether by providing an extra possibility. In this case, the possible results of the testing will be compliance or non-compliance, so the writer includes both possibilities in the sentence.
. . . to determine whether they meet your requirements or not.
The sentence could also be written this way:
. . . to determine whether or not they meet your requirements.
Neither option is more correct than the other. As I have stated in other writing tips (and will again in future ones), the choice is simply a stylistic one the writer makes.
Use if when your sentence includes only one possibility. Use whether when your sentence includes more than one possibility. The mnemonic I use to know the difference lists both words in alphabetical order. Since if will come before whether, and 1 comes before 2, I know that if is used with one possibility while whether is used with more than one possibility.
Whether you choose to remember with this device or another of your own choice, your writing will be clearer and cleaner when you use if and whether correctly.
Use if when your sentence includes only one possibility. Use whether when your sentence includes more than one possibility. The mnemonic I use to know the difference lists both words in alphabetical order. Since if will come before whether, and 1 comes before 2, I know that if is used with one possibility while whether is used with more than one possibility.
Whether you choose to remember with this device or another of your own choice, your writing will be clearer and cleaner when you use if and whether correctly.
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