Weather, Whether, Rather
Weather comes from the Old English weder, for basically, "air and sky." It used to refer to storms, but now the weather can be sunny, too. Ships that weather a storm get through it, just like people who weather something. Examples:
The word whether indicates a choice. You can decide whether to go to the movies. The "or not" isn't necessary because it's implied in the word whether. "Or not" can be added if it means, "regardless of whether," as in "We will play outside whether or not it snows." Here's Hamlet's famous choice:
Use rather to specify a preference for one thing over another.
Rather can also be used to mean "on the contrary," or to introduce a contradiction. You didn't believe in ghosts — rather thinking there was a scientific explanation for any ghostly appearances — until you saw a ghost yourself. The adverb rather also means "to a certain degree." You might grudgingly admit that your mom's strange-sounding chocolate-avocado pudding was actually rather tasty.
(Description from Vocabulary.com) |