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Whether vs Yes - What's the difference?

whether | yes |

As a pronoun whether

is which of two.

As a conjunction whether

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

As a particle yes is

a word used to show agreement or acceptance.

As an interjection yes is

used to express pleasure, joy, or great excitement.

As a noun yes is

an affirmative expression; an answer that shows agreement or acceptance.

As a verb yes is

to agree with, to affirm, to approve.

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

    yes

    English

    (yes and no)

    Particle

    (-)
  • A word used to show agreement or acceptance.
    • Yes , you are correct.
    Yes , you may go play outside now.
    Yes , sir, we have your package right here.
  • A word used to indicate disagreement'' or ''dissent in reply to a negative statement.
    • It was not my fault we lost the race.
    Oh, yes , it was!

    Synonyms

    * Dialect or archaic forms: arr, ay, aye, yea, yassuh * Nautical, military, telecommunications: affirmative * Colloquial or slang forms: ya, yah, yeah, yeh, yep, yeppers, yup, yuppers, yus, ahuh, mhm, uh huh. * See also:

    Antonyms

    * Standard form: no * Nautical, military, telecommunications: negative * Dialect or archaic forms: nay * Colloquial or slang forms: ixnay, nah, naw, nope * See also:

    Derived terms

    * yes and amen * yes and no * yes-no question

    Usage notes

    * In Old and Middle English, yes'' was a more forceful affirmative than ''yea . * An example of yes used to disagree with a statement: the questions "You don’t want it, do you?" and "Don’t you want it?" are answered by "yes" if the respondent does want the item, and "no" if not. Many languages use a specific word for this purpose; see translation table above.

    Interjection

    (en-interj)!
  • Used to express pleasure, joy, or great excitement.
    • Our second goal of the match! Yes !

    Antonyms

    * no

    Noun

    (en-noun)
  • An affirmative expression; an answer that shows agreement or acceptance.
    • Was that a yes?
  • A vote of support or in favor/favour of something.
    • The workers voted on whether to strike, and there were thirty "yeses" and one "no".

    Synonyms

    * (answer that shows agreement or acceptance) aye, yea * (vote in support) aye, yea

    Antonyms

    * (answer that shows agreement or acceptance) no, nay * (vote in support) nay

    Verb

  • (colloquial) To agree with, to affirm, to approve.
    • Did he yes the veto?
    {{quote-magazine
    , date= , year=1972 , month=Oct , first= , last= , author=John Barth , coauthors= , title=Perseid , volume= , issue= , page=79 , magazine=Harper's Magazine , publisher= , issn= , url= , passage="That's really what you wanted?" I yessed both; ... }}
  • (slang) To attempt to flatter someone by habitually agreeing.

    • Synonyms

    agree,

    Derived terms

    * yes man * yes to death 100 English basic words English phrasebook English responses 1000 English basic words ----