English learning course

Whether the weather is fine ...

A listener to these podcasts who lives in Brazil has sent me an e-mail to say, please can I make a podcast about when we say “if” and when we say “whether”. I have thought very hard about this, because it is not easy to explain. The trouble is that you do not think about grammar rules for your own language. You just know what word is correct and what word is wrong.

At one time, perhaps 50 years ago, there were clear rules about when we should use “if” and when we should use “whether”. I shall explain these rules first, because if you stick to these rules, your English will be correct. But I will also tell you that, unfortunately, we English often do not obey the rules.

Here are some sentences where we use the word “if”.

• If the sun shines tomorrow, we will go for a picnic.
• If the train is late, I will miss the meeting.
• If I have time, I will drink some coffee and read the newspaper.
• If I had remembered my umbrella, I would not have got so wet.

Now here are some sentences with “whether”.

• Whether the sun shines tomorrow or not, we will have a picnic.
• Whether or not the train is late, I will still miss the meeting.
• I go for a walk every day, whether it is summer or winter.

Now do you see the difference between “if” and “whether”. “If” introduces a single condition. It talks about only one possible thing that might happen – if the sun shines tomorrow, if the train is late and so on. A sentence with “whether” talks about two or more different things that might happen – maybe the sun will shine tomorrow, maybe it will not, but we will go for a picnic whether or not the sun is shining. Very often “whether” sentences contain the words “or not”; or they say “or not” indirectly, like the last example I gave you.

We also use the word “whether” to begin a noun clause that describes a question or a problem or an issue. Let’s look at some examples, so that you can see what I mean.

• John asked me whether I could go to a party on Saturday. (“Whether” tells us that there is a question or problem – can you come to the party?)
• I told him that it depended on whether I finished my homework in time. (“Whether” tells us that there is a question or problem – will I finish my homework in time?)
• I do not know whether the train goes at 3pm or at 3.15pm. (“Whether” tells us that there is a question or problem – what time does the train go?)
• I need to find out whether my mother is coming at the weekend.(“Whether” tells us that there is a question or problem – is my mother coming at the weekend?)
• Joanne asked her boss whether she could go home early. (“Whether” tells us that there is a question or problem – can I go home early?)

So – here is our simple rule.

• “If” introduces a single condition.
• “Whether” introduces alternatives, and is often followed by “or not”.
• And “whether” starts noun clauses that tell us that there is a question or a problem.

The trouble is, however, that in modern English, particularly spoken English, people often say “if” when they should say “whether”. In particular, people often start noun clauses about questions or problems with “if” instead of “whether”. It is very common to hear people say for example “He asked me if I could go to his party on Saturday”. In some languages, like French, there is a central institute or academy which decides what the proper rules for the language are. We do not have anything like this for English. Good English is simply the English that educated and intelligent English people speak. So if people say “if” instead of “whether”, then “if” is correct!
I hope this is not too confusing. I have made a little quiz so that you can practice “if” and “whether” – you will find a link on the website.

Finally, here is a little poem about “whether”. You will have to listen carefully, because there are two words in English that we pronounce “whether”. There is the word “whether” which we have been talking about in today’s podcast, and there is the “weather” – rain, wind, sunshine and so on.

Whether the weather is fine
Or whether the weather is not
Whether the weather is cold
Or whether the weather is hot
We’ll weather the weather
Whatever the weather
Whether we like it or not.

These podcasts are written and produced by Peter Carter, Birmingham, England

Kevin gets cold feet

Tuesday 10 June 2008

Today, we meet the expression “to have cold feet” about something. It means …well, I will tell you a story, and you will see what it means.

About 3 months ago, Kevin went to the pub with his friend George. At the pub they met some friends who were talking about parachute jumping (or “skydiving”). They were planning to go on a course to learn how to jump out of an aeroplane with a parachute. They thought it would be a really interesting thing to do. Maybe people would agree to sponsor their first jump so that they could raise money for a charity. By the end of the evening, Kevin and George had agreed that they too would go on the parachute jumping course. It sounded good fun. And Kevin would be able to tell everyone at work about his parachute jump, and they would be impressed.

Today is the last day of the parachute jumping course. For the first few days, Kevin, George and the other course participants learned how parachutes work, and how to open the parachute in the air, and how to land on the ground safely. But today, the instructors will take them up in a small aeroplane, and they will make their first real parachute jump.

Kevin feels ill. Three months ago, in the pub, jumping out of an aeroplane with a parachute was a great idea. Now Kevin thinks, “Why did I say that I would do this?” Jumping out of an aeroplane is a crazy thing to do. Suppose he cannot make the parachute work. He would fall hundreds of meters and be killed. Or maybe his parachute will work, but he will land in a river, or in a tree, or on the roof of a house, or in a field with a mad bull. He imagines himself, lying on the ground with a broken ankle, with the mad bull snorting angrily at him.

In other words, Kevin has cold feet. Three months ago, he was enthusiastic about the parachute jump. Now he thinks it is a stupid idea. Perhaps he could pretend to be ill, or that his aunt has just died and he needs to go to her funeral. Yes – Kevin has cold feet.

Kevin arrives at the little airfield where the course is taking place The other course participants all seem a little quiet this morning. Perhaps they have cold feet too.

Then the instructor comes out of his office. “Bad news, I am afraid,” he says. “There is a mechanical problem with the aircraft, and it will take two or three days to fix it. So – I’m sorry – but we won’t be able to do the parachute jump today.” And everyone on the course says how disappointed they are, and how they had really been looking forward to the parachute jump, and what bad luck it is that the aeroplane cannot fly. And Kevin says all these things too. But secretly, inside, he is relieved. And he thinks that some of the other people on the course look relieved too.

These podcasts are written and produced by Peter Carter, Birmingham, England

Whitney Houston
Run to You

I know that when you look at me
There's so much that you just don't see
But if you would only take the time
I know in my heart you'd find
A girl who's scared sometimes
Who isn't always strong
Can't you see the hurt in me?
I feel so all alone

I wanna run to you (oooh)
I wanna run to you (oooh)
Won't you hold me in your arms
And keep me safe from harm
I wanna run to you (oooh)
But if I come to you (oooh)
Tell me, will you stay or will you run away

Each day, each day I play the role
Of someone always in control
But at night I come home and turn the key
There's nobody there, no one cares for me
What's the sense of trying hard to find your dreams
Without someone to share it with
Tell me what does it mean?


(chorus)

I need you here
I need you here to wipe away my tears
To kiss away my fears
If you only knew how much...


(chorus)

Whitney Houston & Mariah Carey
When you believe

Many nights we prayed
With no proof anyone could hear
In our hearts a hope for a song
We barely understood

Now we are not afraid
Although we know there's much to fear
We were moving mountains
Long before we knew we could, whoa, yes

There can be miracles
When you believe
Though hope is frail
It's hard to kill

Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe somehow you will
You will when you believe

[Mmm...mmm...mmm...yeah]
Mmm...yeah...

In this time of fear
When prayer so often proves in vain
Hope seems like the summer bird
Too swiftly flown away

Yet now I'm standing here
My heart's so full, I can't explain
Seeking faith and speakin' words
I never thought I'd say

There can be miracles
When you believe (When you believe)
Though hope is frail
It's hard to kill (Mmm)

Who knows what miracles
You can achieve (You can achieve)
When you believe somehow you will
You will when you believe

[Hey...]
[Ooh...]

They don't know it's often when you ask, uh
And it's easy to give in to your fear, uh [Oh]
But when you're blind you find your pain
Can see or wake me through the rain
???Boy, am I still resilient voice???
Says love is the relief, oh... [Oh...]

There can be miracles (Miracles)
When you believe (Boy, when you believe, yeah) [Though hope is frail]
Though hope is frail [It's hard]
It's hard to kill (Hard to kill, oh, yeah)

Who knows what miracles
You can achieve (You can achieve, oh...)
When you believe somehow you will (Somehow, somehow, somehow)
Somehow you will (I know, I know, know)
You will when you believe [When you]
(Oh...oh...)
[You will when you]
(You will when you believe)
[Ooh...ooh...ooh...]
[Oh...oh...]
[When you believe]
[When you believe

The Loch Ness Monster

Loch Ness is in Scotland, and it is long and narrow and very deep. Loch Ness is special. What is it?

Well, “loch” is a Scottish Gaellic word that means a lake or an inlet of the sea. There are thousands of place names in Scotland containing the word “loch”. So Loch Ness is a lake. It is in fact the largest freshwater lake in Britain. But that is not the reason why Loch Ness is special.

No, Loch Ness is special because it has its very own monster. People say that deep in the lake there lives a large creature. Occasionally – very occasionally – you can see the creature swimming on the surface of Loch Ness, or even moving on the land close to the shores of the lake. No-one is certain what sort of creature it is, so it has no proper scientific name. But everyone calls the Loch Ness monster “Nessie”.

The oldest stories about the monster date from the 6th century. St Columba, who first brought Christianity to Scotland, is said to have saved the life of a man who had been attacked by a huge creature near Loch Ness. The modern stories about the monster started in 1933, when there were three sightings of a large, strange creature, about 1 metre high and 8 metres long, with a long neck. There have been similar reports in most years since then, sometimes of a creature on land, though more normally of a creature in the water. There have been some photographs of Nessie as well, but most of them are of poor quality, and some may be fakes. Several studies of Loch Ness using sonar equipment have found traces of a large object or objects deep in the water.

So what is Nessie? Some people think that she (or he?) may be a type of dinosaur, which had managed to survive when all the other dinosaurs on earth died out. But most scientists think that this is extremely implausible. So is Nessie some other sort of animal, such as an eel or a seal? Or perhaps Nessie does not exist at all. Perhaps the people who say that they have seen a creature in Loch Ness actually saw other things – a small boat, perhaps, or a group of birds, or a pattern of waves and shadows on the water.

In the video, Steve Feltham tells us about what he does. I will not give you a transcript of what he says, but here are some of the main things, to help you understand.

He introduces himself and tells us where he lives, how long he has lived there and what he does. He mentions a place called Dores where he now lives permanently.

He tells us about “the best thing he has seen” (ie the best sighting of something that might be the Loch Ness monster). It was near Fort Augustus, is at the southern end of Loch Ness.

He has also been out on Loch Ness in boats with sonar equipment. The sonar shows “little blobs”(ie little shapes) and sometimes some “big blobs”. Steve tells us what these “blobs” might be.

He tells us about the different theories that people have about the monster.

He tells us what he does when the water is flat and calm;and what he does when it is choppy.

He gets to hear about sightings which other people have made, and people often show him their photos and videos.

Copyright 2005

These podcasts are written and produced by Peter Carter, Birmingham, England, cpetercarter@googlemail.comm

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