✽Choosing Between If and Whether✽
In current informal usage the words if and whether are used more or less interchangeably, as in these examples from the web:
I Dont Know If The New Phone Has A Frontal Camera, But It Should
Do you know whether the new iPhone 3 will have the capacity to handle emails . . .
I Dont Know if Jon and I Will Be Together Next Year . . .
We dont know them personally so we cant judge whether they should really be together.
☼Most of the time it doesnt much matter which you use, but sometimes it does.
Use whether if a choice between alternatives is intended.
I dont know whether we will be together next year. The alternate possibility is that we will not be.
☼ Use if to express a condition.
Father will give us the money if we are still together next year.
The money will be given on the condition that the couple are together.