{"id":10419,"date":"2020-10-15T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/?p=10419"},"modified":"2022-05-03T08:08:09","modified_gmt":"2022-05-03T08:08:09","slug":"whats-the-difference-between-if-and-whether","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/whats-the-difference-between-if-and-whether\/","title":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s the Difference Between If and Whether?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019m back to the subject of conjunctions (you know\u2026those things that link parts of sentences together). This time, rather than focusing on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/lauras-lessons\/why-is-comma-usage-so-confusing-tackling-commas-and-conjunctions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">conjunctions and punctuation<\/a>, this post is about the difference between two similar conjunctions: if and whether. As a disclaimer, these tips are for formal, technical writing\u2014not everyday speech or fiction. So don\u2019t beat yourself up trying to figure out when to use \u201cwhether\u201d when you speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now that I\u2019ve gotten that out of the way, what\u2019s the difference between if and whether? If means \u201cin the event that\u201d or \u201con the assumption that.\u201d It\u2019s conditional, meaning some condition must be met for something else to happen (<em>If this happens, then this next thing will happen<\/em> \u2026or <em>this will happen if something else happens first<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><strong>I will be relieved <span style=\"color: #808000;\">if <\/span>I pass my CEN exam this week<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This means I\u2019ll be relieved on the condition that I pass my exam.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><strong><span style=\"color: #339966;\"><span style=\"color: #808000;\">If<\/span> <\/span>the patient is pregnant, it is recommended to wait until the postpartum period to treat her for CIN grade 3<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A patient being pregnant means it\u2019s recommended to wait to treat her for CIN grade 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s a similar conditional sentence:<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In cirrhosis, the appearance of the ascitic fluid is typically clear yellow, but it can be milky <span style=\"color: #339966;\"><span style=\"color: #808000;\">if<\/span> <\/span>chylous ascites is present<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The presence of chylous ascites means the ascitic fluid may be milky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether, on the other hand, indicates an alternative:<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><strong>I\u2019m trying to decide <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">whether<\/span> to start my PANRE review now or next month<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are two alternatives here: (1) starting my PANRE review now or (2) starting it next month.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><strong>A 40-year-old woman presents to your office to discuss <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">whether<\/span> she should begin yearly screening mammography<\/strong><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This sentence doesn\u2019t state both alternatives. In this case, they\u2019re implied as (1) she should begin yearly mammograms and (2) she should not begin yearly mammograms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Try out some examples:<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>More than one treatment with percutaneous ethanol injection is often required, particularly<\/strong> [<\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">whether<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #808000;\">if<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">]<strong> a patient has multilocular or sizable cysts<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is this sentence conditional (one thing must happen for something else to happen) or is it discussing alternatives? If you said conditional, you\u2019re correct! More than one treatment with percutaneous ethanol injection is often required, especially on the condition of multilocular or sizable cysts.<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>He is able to tell<\/strong> [<\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">whether<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #808000;\">if<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">]<strong> his feet are flexed or extended<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This time we only care about two alternative options: flexed or extended. Whether is correct!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As I mentioned earlier, we\u2019re focused on technical writing here. If you said the previous example out loud, you might use if instead of whether. And surprise\u2026everyone would know what you mean, very few people would faint over it, and no one should notice or care because it\u2019s common wording. But because we\u2019re discussing medical writing, we want to be a bit more formal, clear, and grammatically correct.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last example:<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background has-very-light-gray-background-color\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>I&#8217;m committed to doing 20 board review questions tomorrow,<\/strong>&nbsp;[<\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">whether<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\/<\/span><strong><span style=\"color: #808000;\">if<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">]<strong> it&#8217;s sunny or raining<\/strong>!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This sentence has a different meaning when we use if or whether. Let\u2019s break it down:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c\u2026whether it\u2019s sunny or raining\u201d means I\u2019m going to study no matter what\u2014rain or shine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c\u2026if it\u2019s sunny or raining\u201d means I\u2019m only going to study on two conditions: either sun or rain. A cloudy, rainless day must give you a free pass. (Tricky conditional sentence there\u2014you should do yourself the favor and study anyway.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">English is full of these words that have similar meanings but different usages. And it has plenty of words that we use differently in speech versus writing! But if you\u2019re creating technical, formal pieces, remember to figure out <em>whether<\/em> your sentence is conditional or discussing alternatives <em>if <\/em>you want to keep things clear for your readers. Happy writing!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019m back to the subject of conjunctions (you know\u2026those things that link parts of sentences together). This time, rather than focusing on conjunctions and punctuation, this post is about the difference between two similar conjunctions: if and whether. As a disclaimer, these tips are for formal, technical writing\u2014not everyday speech or fiction. So don\u2019t beat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/whats-the-difference-between-if-and-whether\/\">read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":11203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1996,1998],"tags":[2735],"coauthors":[3822],"class_list":["post-10419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogtype","category-lauras-lessons","tag-grammar"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What&#039;s the Difference Between If and Whether? - RoshReview.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Whats The Difference Between If And Whether Learn in a minute what you should&#039;ve learned in third grade.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/whats-the-difference-between-if-and-whether\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What&#039;s the Difference Between If and Whether?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Whats The Difference Between If And Whether Learn in a minute what you should&#039;ve learned in third grade.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/whats-the-difference-between-if-and-whether\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"RoshReview.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-15T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-03T08:08:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1200x630.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura Wilkinson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/LaurasLessons_2021_1012x506.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura Wilkinson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/whats-the-difference-between-if-and-whether\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.roshreview.com\/blog\/whats-the-difference-between-if-and-whether\/\",\"name\":\"What's the Difference Between If and Whether? 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