In this weekly microblog, we bring to English language learners more useful content from the Macmillan Dictionary. These tips are based on areas of English (e.g. spelling, grammar, collocation, etc) which learners often find difficult.
This week’s language tip is about the conjunction whether.
Notice the spelling of the word whether, and don’t confuse it with the noun weather, which sounds exactly the same.
✗ It does not matterwheatherone is an optimist or a pessimist.
✓ It does not matter whether one is an optimist or a pessimist.
✗ The question iswetherthere is still a place for imagination in the world.
✓ The question is whether there is still a place for imagination in the world.
✗ … the issue ofweathercriminals need retribution or rehabilitation.
✓ … the issue of whether criminals need retribution or rehabilitation.
More language tips
Browse the list under the ‘language tips‘ tag here on the blog for more useful language tips.
Would you like to improve your vocabulary? Follow our daily tweets @MacLearnEnglish or visit our Learn English Facebook Page.
