IF..NOT, UNLESS, WHETHER Flashcards
UNLESS is used in conditional clauses with the meaning of EXCEPT IF.
Use Present Tense to talk about the future.
You can’t travel on this train unless you have a reservation.
Unless it rains, I’ll pick you up at six.
In Real conditional, we can use IF..NOT or UNLESS with the same meaning.
Unless the theater is able to raise $100.000, it will have to close.
OR IF the theater isn’t able to raise….
We use IF…NOT, but not unless:
An event in the IF clause is unexpected.
In questions.
In unreal conditional sentences.
In unreal conditional, with the main sentence in negative.
I’ll be amazed if Cristie doesn’t win.
If you don’t pass the test, what will you do?
If I weren’t so tired, I’d give you a hand.
She wouldn’t have gone to university unless her parents had insisted.
We can use IF or WHETHER to say about two possibilities.
They couldn’t decide if/whether it was worth resitting the exam.
Do you know if/whether Ben’s at home?
Whether can be followed by OR NOT. With IF, OR NOT goes to the end.
I didn’t know if Aya was coming or not.
I didn’t know whether or not Aya was coming.
We use WHETHER:
After a preposition
Before TO+INFINITIVE
We argued about whether butter or margarine was better for you.
I couldn’t decide whether to buy apples or bananas.
NOUN/ADJECTIVE+AS TO WHETHER(about,concerning):
disagreement, conflict, confusion, debate, discussion, doubt, question, speculation, uncertainty, concerned, indifferent, uncertain, undecided, unsure.
There was some disagreement as to whether he was eligible to play for France.
WHETHER is used:
after the verbs: advise, choose, consider, depend on, discuss, talk about, think about.
You should consider whether the car you are interested in is good value.
WHETHER is used in a clause as a subject or complement.
Whether the minister will quit on the issue remains to be seen.
The first issue is whether he knew he was committing a crime.
