Weather vs. Whether
Use weather when referring to rain, lightning, snow… all of those meteorological occurrences that you hope will result in school being canceled tomorrow.
Use whether when you're talking about alternatives and options.
Examples
"Zoe's flight to Barbados was delayed for three hours due to inclement weather."
We hope she got some free snacks out of the ordeal. There's nothing that a tiny bag of exactly nine mini-pretzels can't fix. Weather's the way to go here since we're talking about atmospheric changes like wind or thunderstorms.
"When my cat, Mrs. Paddleball, turned my computer off with her tail, I didn't know whether to laugh or to cry."
We can understand the dilemma: on the one hand, that's an impressive feat for a cat. On the other hand, if you haven't saved your game recently… ouch. Here, the speaker's talking about two options—laughing or crying—so whether is the right choice.
"Please let me know whether you're bringing a date to the wedding."
That's just good manners. What's also good is using whether here since we're talking about two alternatives: bringing a date or not bringing a date.
Common Mistakes using Homophones
- Affect vs. Effect
- Compliment vs. Complement
- Past vs Passed
- Illusion vs Allusion
- Weather vs Whether
- Presence vs Presents
- Site vs Sight vs Cite
- Principle vs Principal
- Stationary vs Stationery
- Whole vs Hole
- Accept vs Except
- Already vs All Ready
- Elicit vs Illicit
- Altogether vs All Together
- Breath vs Breathe
- Costumes vs Customs
- Advice vs Advise
- Lose vs Loose
- Definitely vs Defiantly
- Desert vs Dessert
- Through vs Threw
- Assure vs Ensure vs Insure