Whether
<div><font color="#222222" face="Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Nimbus Sans L, Arial, Liberation Sans, sans-serif">
</font></div><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, "Nimbus Sans L", Arial, "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; list-style-position: inside; list-style-image: initial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="use-with-mention" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Used to introduce an indirect interrogative question that consists of multiple alternative possibilities (usually with correlative <i class="Latn mention" lang="en" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/or#English" title="or" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">or</a></i>)</span>.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="use-with-mention" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Without a correlative, used to introduce a simple indirect question</span>.</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: inherit; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><span class="use-with-mention" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: italic; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Used to introduce a disjunctive <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/adverbial#English" title="adverbial" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">adverbial</a>clause which qualifies the main clause of the sentence (with correlative <i class="Latn mention" lang="en" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/or#English" title="or" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">or</a></i>).</span></li></ol><h4 class="in-block" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.5em 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, "Nimbus Sans L", Arial, "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word; display: table; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><span class="mw-headline" id="Usage_notes" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: middle; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; display: table-cell; width: 272px;">Usage notes</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: middle; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; display: table-cell;"><a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=whether&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Usage notes" data-section="7" class="mw-ui-icon mw-ui-icon-element mw-ui-icon-minerva-edit-enabled edit-page" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; color: rgb(107, 75, 161); position: relative; min-height: 1.5em; min-width: 3.5em; text-indent: -999px; overflow: hidden; width: 3.5em; max-width: 3.5em; display: block;">Edit</a></span></h4><ul style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, "Nimbus Sans L", Arial, "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; list-style: square outside; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">In traditional grammar, the clauses headed by <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">whether</i> in senses 2 and 3 are classified as noun clauses, and those headed by <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">whether</i> in sense 4 are classified as adverbial clauses.</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: inherit; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">There is some overlap in usage between senses 2 and 3, in that a yes-or-no interrogative content clause can list the two possibilities explicitly in a number of ways:</li></ul><dl style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, "Nimbus Sans L", Arial, "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><dd style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; overflow: auto;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Do you know whether he's coming or staying?</i></dd><dd style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; overflow: auto;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Do you know whether he's coming or not?</i></dd><dd style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; overflow: auto;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Do you know whether or not he's coming?</i></dd><dd style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; overflow: auto;">Further, in the first two of these examples, the "or staying" and "or not" may be added as an afterthought (sometimes indicated in writing with a comma before), such that the <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">whether</i> may be uttered in sense 3 and then amended to sense 2.</dd></dl><ul style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, "Nimbus Sans L", Arial, "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; list-style: square outside; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">The <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">or not</i> can be placed after <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">whether</i> or after the verb, although in senses 2 and 3, <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">or not</i> is not required.</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">Sense 4 does not have a counterpart that introduces only a single possibility and thus requires <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">or not</i> if no other possibilities are presented. For example, "He's coming, whether you like it" is ungrammatical. Grammatical versions are "He's coming, whether you like it or not" or "He's coming, whether you like it or dislike it".</li><li style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: inherit; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">The main verb in adverbial clauses with <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">whether</i> is sometimes in the <a href="https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/subjunctive" title="subjunctive" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; color: rgb(107, 75, 161);">subjunctive</a>mood, especially if the verb is <i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">be</i>:</li></ul><dl style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, "Nimbus Sans L", Arial, "Liberation Sans", sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><dd style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; overflow: auto;"><i style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial;">I shall be glad to play any instrument, whether it be a violin or a trumpet.</i></dd></dl>