Ask WordMum: Weather vs Whether
This month’s instalment of Ask WordMum series looks at using weather or whether correctly! Read on for some advice, tips, and tricks, with some examples so you can see it in action.
Our Question
When do I use weather, and when should I use whether?
Terrible Advice
Just use wether! Common letters only, covers all your bases.
Tip: A wether is a desexed male sheep, so its meaning might be a little woolly.
WordMum Says
These ones sound the same but are used in wildly different ways. Let’s try to break them out and make them easier to remember!
Weather (noun, verb, adjective)
This refers to meteorological phenomena: rain, shine, storms, snow, and so on. It’s generally whatever is happening in the atmosphere outside (unless you have some magic or technology making weather inside). It’s usually coming from the sky, though I’m sure you can refer to the weather in space depending on astrological conditions.
In its verb form, this tends to refer to being exposed to and making it through the conditions outside: for example, weathering a storm means to survive a storm. You can also weather other kinds of conditions, such as hard times, strong emotions, or other types of challenges. These all link metaphorically back to weathering a storm for me, and the storm part links it back to this form of the word weather.
As an adjective, this refers to the impact of having been out in the weather for a long time. It can also mean the side of a building facing the prevailing wind, as in having a weather side, though that usage is less common.
A weathered building might show signs of where the wind has blasted one side with rain, debris, or sand, or where the water has stained a streak down from a pipe, leaves gathered up in the gutter, and so on. This use has also been extended to the idea of weathering a stretch of time, and objects (and people!) can show the signs of this. It might include signs of frequent use on an object, the places where it has been worn down over time or stained from repeated exposure to a substance. Again, this one links back to the notion of something having been exposed to weather conditions for a long time, so that’s the link to help you remember the spelling.
Connected words: weathered, weathering
Whether (conjunction)
This is purely an indicator of options available or a choice. For example, whether or not you believe me means that you have the option to believe me or to not believe me.
When using this word, it is usually a choice between two options. Sometimes a second option is specified but whether is most commonly used in a more binary sense. A whether or not choice may not explicitly include the or not in the sentence; if no second option is specified, the or not is implied. A good test to see if this is the word to use is to see if or not is included in the sentence, or if you can add it in and have the sentence still make sense.
Connected words: or not
Example Time!
The weather outside is frightful
We’re talking about the conditions or atmosphere outside here, so we want weather.
Whether is not a noun, so it can’t be anywhere and it can’t be frightful. If it’s a choice between things outside or whether a thing is outside, you would reword it to something like: I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to be outside, where it was frightful. In this case, the frightful thing is unnamed and vague. In the example above, the frightful part of being outside is specifically the weather conditions.
The man with the weathered face
This means a face that is worn and shows the signs of ageing or having gone through many challenges and hard times. I tend to think of sailors and farmers when I see this phrase, because they spend a great deal of their time exposed to the elements and it shows in their skin. So, imagine that face has gone through many storms and link it to the correct word: weathered.
Whether is not an adjective, so it can’t be used to describe something. A whethered face could sound indecisive, but sadly whethered is not a word.
He didn’t know whether to step forward
In this one, the character is making a choice, which is our first clue. If we add or not in there, it still makes sense: He didn’t know whether or not to step forward. So, we want whether.
This usage isn’t a noun, verb, or adjective, so using weather doesn’t make sense: he didn’t know weather to step forward.
The dog didn’t know whether to go or stay
In this one, the dog has a choice to make, which pushes us towards whether. However, adding or not doesn’t make sense here because there’s already a second option provided (or stay).
As with the previous one, the word isn’t acting as a verb, noun, or adjective, so weather doesn’t make sense. The dog is the only noun in the sentence and the actions before it do not involve weathering.
She was feeling under the weather
This one is more colloquial and metaphorical, because the person is not literally under some weather (such as standing in the rain). It means she feels sick.
For this one, weather is used as a noun, which helps us towards the right spelling. It also doesn’t involve any kind of choice (after all, who would choose to feel awful?), so we know it shouldn’t be whether. Adding or not doesn’t make sense, either: She was feeling under the weather or not sounds like the start of a much longer, run-on nonsense sentence that doesn’t know where it’s going.
Does that help you know whether to use whether? Or whether to weather some weather? Great, rock on!
If you have any other scenarios or examples you need clarified, just ask! Drop it into a comment here or on the Discord server. I’d also love to hear if you have different strategies to help you find the right word to use.
Got something you want to have clarified? Then ask WordMum! Watch this space for our next entry in the series.