1) The question whether this medication is good for you is above my paygrade.
2) Whether this medication is good for you is above my paygrade.

Are both grammatical and meaningful?

--
Gratefully,
Navi

Lost in the Twilight Zone of the English language
Obsessed with ambiguity
Interested in strange structures

On 09/04/24 20:52, navi wrote:

> 1) The question whether this medication is good for you is above my
> paygrade. 2) Whether this medication is good for you is above my
> paygrade.
>
> Are both grammatical and meaningful?

Yes. (But pay grade is two words.)

Personally I prefer "the question of whether" or "the question as to
whether", but your abbreviated form is also found in practice.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW

arthurvarr@gmail.com (navi) wrote or quoted:
>1) The question whether this medication is good for you is above my paygrade.
>2) Whether this medication is good for you is above my paygrade.
>Are both grammatical and meaningful?

Both sentences are grammatically correct and convey a specific
meaning, namely that the speaker lacks the competence (knowledge
or position) to determine whether the medication is appropriate for
the individual. This indicates the speaker's uncertainty or lack of
authority to make a definitive judgment about the suitability of
the medication for the person in question. The phrasing suggests
the speaker's acknowledgment of their own limitations in providing
a conclusive assessment of the medical treatment's appropriateness.

Peter Moylan wrote:

> On 09/04/24 20:52, navi wrote:

>> 1) The question whether this medication is good for you is above my
>> paygrade. 2) Whether this medication is good for you is above my
>> paygrade.
>>
>> Are both grammatical and meaningful?

> Yes. (But pay grade is two words.)

> Personally I prefer "the question of whether" or "the question as to
> whether", but your abbreviated form is also found in practice.

I believe Fowler recommended "the question whether", but it didn't catch
on very well. I like "the question of whether".

--
Jerry Friedman

On 2024-04-09 18:25:33 +0000, jerryfriedman said:

> Peter Moylan wrote:
>
>> On 09/04/24 20:52, navi wrote:
>
>>> 1) The question whether this medication is good for you is above my
>>> paygrade. 2) Whether this medication is good for you is above my
>>> paygrade.
>>>
>>> Are both grammatical and meaningful?
>
>> Yes. (But pay grade is two words.)
>
>> Personally I prefer "the question of whether" or "the question as to
>> whether", but your abbreviated form is also found in practice.
>
> I believe Fowler recommended "the question whether", but it didn't catch
> on very well. I like "the question of whether".

Me too. On many points Fowler was pretty sound, but occasionally he
recommended things that don't correspond to what we like today.

--
Athel -- French and British, living in Marseilles for 37 years; mainly
in England until 1987.

Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:

> On 2024-04-09 18:25:33 +0000, jerryfriedman said:

>> Peter Moylan wrote:
>>
>>> On 09/04/24 20:52, navi wrote:
>>
>>>> 1) The question whether this medication is good for you is above my
>>>> paygrade. 2) Whether this medication is good for you is above my
>>>> paygrade.
>>>>
>>>> Are both grammatical and meaningful?
>>
>>> Yes. (But pay grade is two words.)
>>
>>> Personally I prefer "the question of whether" or "the question as to
>>> whether", but your abbreviated form is also found in practice.
>>
>> I believe Fowler recommended "the question whether", but it didn't catch
>> on very well. I like "the question of whether".

> Me too. On many points Fowler was pretty sound, but occasionally he
> recommended things that don't correspond to what we like today.

The ngram:
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=the+question+whether%2Cthe+question+as+to+whether&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3
seems to indicate a preference for the longer version
esp. in the "Fowler" years.
I still prefer it for formal contexts, but:

At COCA, Am, in say the last 20 years,
https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/
THE QUESTION AS TO WHETHER 150
THE QUESTION WHETHER 520

At BNC, BrE
https://www.english-corpora.org/bnc/
THE QUESTION AS TO WHETHER 52
THE QUESTION WHETHER 268

Best.
--
Marius Hancu

Marius_Hancu wrote:

> Athel Cornish-Bowden wrote:

>> On 2024-04-09 18:25:33 +0000, jerryfriedman said:

>>> Peter Moylan wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 09/04/24 20:52, navi wrote:
>>>
>>>>> 1) The question whether this medication is good for you is above my
>>>>> paygrade. 2) Whether this medication is good for you is above my
>>>>> paygrade.
>>>>>
>>>>> Are both grammatical and meaningful?
>>>
>>>> Yes. (But pay grade is two words.)
>>>
>>>> Personally I prefer "the question of whether" or "the question as to
>>>> whether", but your abbreviated form is also found in practice.
>>>
>>> I believe Fowler recommended "the question whether", but it didn't catch
>>> on very well. I like "the question of whether".

>> Me too. On many points Fowler was pretty sound, but occasionally he
>> recommended things that don't correspond to what we like today.

> The ngram:
> https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=the+question+whether%2Cthe+question+as+to+whether&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3
> seems to indicate a preference for the longer version
> esp. in the "Fowler" years.

You left out "the question of whether", Athel's and my favorite,
which passed the "as to" version in the late '70s.

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=the+question+whether%2Cthe+question+of+whether%2Cthe+question+as+to+whether&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=en-2019&smoothing=3

> I still prefer it for formal contexts, but:

> At COCA, Am, in say the last 20 years,
> https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/
> THE QUESTION AS TO WHETHER 150
> THE QUESTION WHETHER 520

THE QUESTION OF WHETHER 2019

(2004-2024)

> At BNC, BrE
> https://www.english-corpora.org/bnc/
> THE QUESTION AS TO WHETHER 52
> THE QUESTION WHETHER 268

THE QUESTION OF WHETHER 359

Fowler (if I remembered correctly) seems to have more influence
in the U.S. than the UK.

--
Jerry Friedman

Marius_Hancu wrote:

> At COCA, Am, in say the last 20 years,
> https://www.english-corpora.org/coca/
> THE QUESTION AS TO WHETHER 150
> THE QUESTION WHETHER 520
>
> At BNC, BrE
> https://www.english-corpora.org/bnc/
> THE QUESTION AS TO WHETHER 52
> THE QUESTION WHETHER 268

An Ngram shows that "the question of whether" is more common than your
examples, both with GB and US as language. It shifted around 1980. The
short form was dominating by far until then.

--
Bertel
Kolt, Denmark