BBC news 2009-12-25 加文本

whether的用法，现在详细讲一下。

whether与if作“是否”讲，在用法上有相同之处，也有不同之处。

一、相同之处。

1.whether和if都能引导宾语从句，常置于see,ask,learn,tell,wonder,doubt,find out等动词之后。
如：He asked me whether/is I could help him. I want to know whether/if he lives there.

2.whether和if都可用it作形式主语从句中。如： it's uncertain whether/if he'll come this evening.

3.在be uncertain/doubtful之后，常用whether引导宾语从句，有时也可以用if，如： We are uncertain whether/if Mary will come.

二、不同之处。

1.whether可置于句首引导主语从句，而if不能。如： ___the 2000 Olympic Games will be in Beijing is not known yet. A.whether B.If C.Whether D.That 答案是C。

2.whether可用在介词之后，引导宾语从句，而If则不能。如： Success depends on whether we make evough effort.

3.whether可引导表语从句，if则不能。如： The puestion is whether it is not worthdoing.

4.在名词之后引导同位语从句时，用whether而不用if。如： The puestion whether the students answered correctly should be decided by the teacher.

5.whether后可接不定式，而if不能。如： Please tell us whether to go or stay here.

6.在有些动词（如discuss）之后，只能用whether，而不用if引导宾语从句。如： We discussed whether we should close the shop.

7.在引导否定概念in宾语从句时，只能用if，而不用whether.如：he asked me if I hadn't finished my work.

2.The central bank in Iran says defaced bank notes are to be made invalid following an opposition campaign for people to write anti-government slogans on the money.

following在这里是表示时间的状语，而且用following时，明显following后面的事情发生在前，而前面主句所陈述的事情在后。而若用followed,经常用做followed by，其后所跟的事件在时间顺序上后发生。

3.This bill would give cover to more than 30 million Americans who currently don’t have it, making it compulsory to have insurance and stopping insurance companies from refusing to cover people who are ill or who get sick.

making it在这里是现在分词做结果状语。compulsory是宾语补足语。Make是使役动词，只跟宾语意思不完整，需要加一个补语进行补充说明。