Question
Updated on
27 Oct 2018
- Japanese
-
English (US)
Question about English (US)
Hello. I'm wondering about the use of "whether." In some website explaining English grammar, I notice that it quotes an example sentence like,
I know whether you were sick.
To my sense, this seems to be weird in that "whether" is used in affirmative "know." From my experiences, I've seen this word used mostly in negative sentences, or sentences where the subject is not sure if something will happen, or happened. (Like, I want to know whether you were sick at that time.) However in this sentence, the subject "I" is sure that "you" were sick. In this case, I thought that the whether should be replaced with "that" instead, but is it right? Or is the original one is correct? Please give me some explanation.
Thank you.
Hello. I'm wondering about the use of "whether." In some website explaining English grammar, I notice that it quotes an example sentence like,
I know whether you were sick.
To my sense, this seems to be weird in that "whether" is used in affirmative "know." From my experiences, I've seen this word used mostly in negative sentences, or sentences where the subject is not sure if something will happen, or happened. (Like, I want to know whether you were sick at that time.) However in this sentence, the subject "I" is sure that "you" were sick. In this case, I thought that the whether should be replaced with "that" instead, but is it right? Or is the original one is correct? Please give me some explanation.
Thank you.
I know whether you were sick.
To my sense, this seems to be weird in that "whether" is used in affirmative "know." From my experiences, I've seen this word used mostly in negative sentences, or sentences where the subject is not sure if something will happen, or happened. (Like, I want to know whether you were sick at that time.) However in this sentence, the subject "I" is sure that "you" were sick. In this case, I thought that the whether should be replaced with "that" instead, but is it right? Or is the original one is correct? Please give me some explanation.
Thank you.
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- Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)
(As a medical doctor,) I know whether you were sick (by means of diagnosis or physical examination).
(As a medical doctor,) I know whether you were sick (by means of diagnosis or physical examination).
- English (US)
- Spanish (Mexico)
“I know whether you were sick”
Means “I know whether you were sick or not”.
In other words, the subject “I” knows that even if “you” is lying, “I” will know if “you” is sick or not.
It’s kind of confusing but another example could be
•”Anna you’re going to school whether you you like it or not”
Meaning that Anna will have to go to school even if she doesn’t want to.
Does that help a little?
Highly-rated answerer
- English (US)
@anokoro it’s more common for people to say “I know that you were sick”/“I know you were sick”. I’ve never seen a sentence like the one above not even in old english. I can’t say definitively that it’s grammatically incorrect but I can say with confidence there’s a 99% you’ll never hear a sentence like that. [not sure if that helps]
- Traditional Chinese (Taiwan)
I know with certainty whether you were sick because your lame excuse sells you out.
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