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Whereas vs Whether - What's the difference?

whereas | whether |

In obsolete terms the difference between whereas and whether

is that whereas is where (that) while whether is Introducing a direct interrogative question (often with correlative {{term|or) which indicates doubt between alternatives.}.

As an adverb whereas

is where (that).

As a noun whereas

is a clause, as in legal documents, stating whereas.

As a pronoun whether is

which of two.

whereas

English

Alternative forms

* (rare)

Adverb

(-)
  • (obsolete) Where (that).
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.iii:
    • And home she came, whereas her mother blynd / Sate in eternall night [...].

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • In contrast; whilst on the contrary.
    • He came first in the race whereas his brother came last.
  • It being the fact that; inasmuch as
  • * United States Articles of Confederation
    • And Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the World to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respectively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union.

    Usage notes

    * Whereas is used in the second sense principally in legal documents, formal resolutions of corporate bodies, and the like.

    See also

    * thereabout, thereafter, thereagainst, thereat, thereby, therefor, therefore, therefrom, therein, thereinafter, thereof, thereon, thereto, theretofore, thereunder, thereunto, thereupon, therewith, therewithal * hereabout, hereafter, hereat, hereby, herein, hereinafter, hereinbefore, hereinto, hereof, hereon, hereto, heretofore, hereunto, hereunder, hereupon, herewith * whereabouts, whereas, whereafter, whereat, whereby, wherefore, wherefrom, wherein, whereinto, whereof, whereon, whereto, whereunder, whereupon, wherever, wherewith, wherewithal

    Noun

    (es)
  • A clause, as in legal documents, stating whereas.
  • * 1883 , The Insurance Law Journal
    • ...the promise is stated after a whereas , though the promise is the very gist of the action, yet, such a count so framed, will be held good on demurrer.
  • * 1908 , United States Congress, Hearings beginning March 9, 1908-April 30, 1908
    • It had a page or so of whereases .
  • * 1961 , Aluminum Workers' International Union, Biennial Convention
    • I feel it is most unfortunate that some of the preambles, prefaces, whereases or whatever you want to call it, are put before motions or before resolutions...
  • * 1973 , Canadian Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, Proceedings
    • If it is the desire of any Lodge on the floor that the whereases that were listed in their original Resolution be quoted by the Chairman or by the Secretary...

    whether

    English

    Pronoun

    (English Pronouns)
  • (obsolete) Which of two.
  • * 1526 , William Tyndale, trans. Bible , Matthew XXVII:
    • The debite answered and sayde unto them: whether of the twayne will ye that I lett loosse unto you?
  • * Bible, Matthew xxi. 31
    • Whether of them twain did the will of his father?

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • (lb)
  • *1526 , (William Tyndale), trans. Bible , Mark II:
  • *:whether ys it easyer to saye to the sicke of the palsey, thy synnes ar forgeven the: or to saye, aryse, take uppe thy beed and walke?
  • *1616 , (William Shakespeare), (King John) , I.i:
  • *:Whether hadst thou rather be a Faulconbridge, [...] Or the reputed sonne of Cordelion?
  • .
  • :
  • *
  • *:As a political system democracy seems to me extraordinarily foolish,I do not suppose that it matters much in reality whether laws are made by dukes or cornerboys, but I like, as far as possible, to associate with gentlemen in private life.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2012, date=June 19, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport
    • , title= England 1-0 Ukraine , passage=The incident immediately revived the debate about goal-line technology, with a final decision on whether it is introduced expected to be taken in Zurich on 5 July.}}
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Old soldiers? , passage=Whether modern, industrial man is less or more warlike than his hunter-gatherer ancestors is impossible to determine. The machine gun is so much more lethal than the bow and arrow that comparisons are meaningless. One thing that is true, though, is that murder rates have fallen over the centuries, as policing has spread and the routine carrying of weapons has diminished.}}
  • ; if, whether or not.
  • :
  • :

    • Usage notes

    * 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:
    Do you know whether he's coming or staying?''
    ''Do you know whether he's coming or not?''
    ''Do you know whether or not he's coming?''
    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 ''whether may be uttered in sense 3 and then amended to sense 2. * Sense 4 does not have a counterpart that introduces only a single possibility; *"He's coming, whether you like it" is ungrammatical. * In traditional grammar, the clauses headed by whether'' in senses 2 and 3 are classified as noun clauses, and those headed by ''whether in sense 4 are classified as adverb clauses.

    Related terms

    * whethersoever * either * neither

    Statistics

    * English interrogative pronouns English subordinating conjunctions