Whether or not

Whether (or not) to add 'or not'

In yes/no situations, utterers sometimes add "or not" to "whether."

With whether, it can go immediately after, or at the end of the clause.

"We're trying to decide whether (or not) to go to the party."
"I wonder whether it will rain tomorrow or not."

We're leaving for the party, whether or not David is ready.
We're going for a walk, whether it's raining or not.

In the first two sentences with "whether" the utterer is talking about making a choice or about what might happen in the future, in the second two we are saying we will do something whatever an already existing situation is, or regardless of that already existing situation.

In the second pair of sentences, we need that 'or not'.

But in the first pair, the 'or not' is not really necessary for the meaning, as it is already implied. ("entailed").

Using words that are not really necessary is sometimes called 'redundancy'.

Redundancy

This is a very trendy word on grammar and writing style websites.

It has nothing to do with people being laid off (losing their jobs) -- ha!

Redundant means not needed, and some people get very worked up about it.

It's definitely worth a whole post to itself one day.

The thing is a lot of us automatically add or not when the Griceian purist says we shouldn't.

In most circumstances this probably doesn't matter, after all even course books do it.

But if you want to major in English at Oxford, or impress your grammar-conscious friends, it's probably best to leave "or not" out, especially in writing (especially a love letter).

Sometimes utterers use it, sometimes utterers don't.

Look at these two sentences for example:

Whether it will rain is the big question.

Whether we can wait that long is debatable.

While the second sounds fine without 'or not', in the first the 'whether' seems a bit lonely, and people would probably add 'or not'.

Don't ask me the difference, but I think it might have something to do with the length of the whether clause.

Another possibility is that utterers don't feel they need "or not" if there is an adverbial involved.

I have to confess I find this indignation about the use of 'redundant' or not a bit of a storm in a teacup.

After all we often use redundancy in conversation.

For example we use question tags when we aren't really expecting an answer -

'Lovely day, isn't it?'.

Here's another example. When an American walks into a British shop and says,

'How are you?'

to a shop assistant who he's never seen before, after the initial shock of being greeted like this by a total stranger, the shop assistant will answer,

'Fine, thanks'

or something similar.

Meanwhile the American is already over on the other side of the shop.

From a British perspective that question was totally redundant, as an answer was never expected.

It turns out 'How are you' is in fact American for 'Hello'.


Ex. 4 - Is the or not redundant (or not)?

You are trying to really impress a pedantic grammarian.

Decide whether the "or not" is redundant (or not).

Select 'Leave it out' if it is unnecessary, 'Keep it in' if we definitely need it.
Leave
it out Keep
it in

***********************

1.

************

Whether the sun is shining or not, I'm going to the beach.

2.

I don't know whether to go to the beach or not.

3.

We always support our team, whether they win or not.

4.

I'm going to do it, whether you agree or not.

5.

I don't know whether to tell her or not.

6.

We haven't decided whether or not to buy a new car.

7.

Whether or not we buy a new car I'm not driving all that way.

8.

Whether or not we buy a new car is something we will have to consider carefully.

And so on.

Grice's answer: ALWAYS delete 'or not'.