Whether (or not)
Murky Whether
By Evan Jenkins
There are writers and editors and teachers out
there whose blood boils when they see "or not" after seeing "whether."
In fact, "or not" is never wrong; the phrase simply expresses the
negative alternative of whatever we're talking about. But it definitely should
be omitted when it's just extra words — constructions like "She wouldn't
say whether or not she would run," or "He asked whether or not the
ship was sinking." In each case, the alternative represented by "or
not," though implicit, is inescapable; drop "or not." At times, though, balance, euphony and even logic demand "or not" or something else to specify the alternative outcome. On the logic front, the great John B. Bremner noted in his classic Words on Words that the little word "if" can be used to test the need for "or not." It means one thing, he noted, to say, "I'll love you whether or not you leave me," and quite another to say, "I'll love you if you leave me." We need "whether or not" to convey the full thought.
More subtly, this sentence needed something to complete — balance — the thought that "whether" began: "Whether the jawboning and billions of dollars in foreign-exchange intervention succeed in propping up the yen, they will almost certainly succeed in propping up Mr. Hashimoto." The thought imbedded in "whether" drops off a cliff; the sentence has to say explicitly that the jawboning and so on may not save the yen. One way to make the alternative clear would be to add "or fail" after "... intervention succeed." Easier still, we could start with "Whether or not."
Addendum, 3/5/99
A perfect example of a sentence that did not need "or not": "...Mr. Starr must decide whether or not he should seek the indictment of the president." The phrase contributes nothing to the sense or the sound.
font: CJR
