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This answer claims that enquire whether differs from enquire about whether. So what does the latter mean?


Here are some indications that enquire about whether is correct usage of some sort.

Source: p 4, Pragmatics and the English Language, By Jonathan Culpeper Ph.D in Linguistics (Lancaster Uni), Associate Prof in Linguistics Michael Haugh PhD (University of Queensland)

What this joke illustrates is that the whole utterance Do you have any firearms with you? can have more than one meaning: is it an enquiry about whether the driver has firearms or a request for firearms?

Source: p 70, The Phraseology of Administrative French,
by Wendy Anderson PhD in French linguistics (University of St Andrews)

In response to a query about whether a corpus of written academic prose in the disciplines of commerce/economics and natural science/history should be called specific registers or genres, the four linguists who commented all proposed different solutions, ... .

Here's another quote by Prof of Linguistics, Frederick Newmeyer.


All that said, what distinguishes enquire whether and enquire about whether?

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  • Wouldn't this be better split into a question and a self-answer? Commented Apr 21, 2015 at 21:34
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    Well, this really isn't very clearly asked. Commented Apr 21, 2015 at 21:36
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    @LawArea51Proposal-Commit: Well, I've done what I could. I'm still not sure what all the quotes are for exactly, but that should help. Commented Apr 21, 2015 at 21:56
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    Your examples show only the noun forms enquiry and query. They say nothing in regard to the verb form enquire about whether. Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 9:55
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    I would say the difference is that "enquire about whether" has a superfluous "about". Commented Apr 22, 2015 at 9:56

2 Answers 2

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"enquire about whether" is a description of a question, not a question itself.

In the first example you gave it is being used to distinguish between two separate meanings that could be taken from one question.

Rewritten it could be:

He asked the driver "Do you have any firearms with you?" Did he mean "are you carrying any firearms?" or was he asking for some?.

Without the "about" in that sentence it would imply a two part question:

He enquired whether the driver had firearms, or could give him some?

e.g.

Do you have any firearms? Can I have some?

In the second example you gave it is being used to note that this is a description of a question, not a paraphrase or a direct quotation.

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I am going to assume you're asking if enquire about whether is grammatical.

It is no more grammatical than ask about if, for "if" and "whether" are binary:

... whether she has or she has not; if he is or is not ...

Properly speaking, we ask "if he is", not *about if he is". But speakers can lose sight of the fact that whether and if yield true|false, and treat these as general interrogatives.

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  • Yes, your basic point is valid. However people do use "ask about whether" and "ask about if". It may be seen as justified by some if a clear yes or no answer is not expected. But instead of "Ask him about whether he is going to enter the London Marathom" one might, more grammatically say "Ask him about his intentions as to entering the London Marathon".
    – WS2
    Commented Nov 29, 2022 at 7:52
  • I can certainly find "ask about if" in properly-edited texts, e.g. "ask about if there is a history of previous foot problems" in a medical book. It suggests a more general inquiry than demanding a yes/no answer.
    – Stuart F
    Commented Nov 29, 2022 at 12:00
  • @Stuart F I would accept that a certain percentage of speakers say "ask about if" but wouldn't consider that text "properly edited" if the snippet you quoted is indicative.
    – TimR
    Commented Dec 5, 2022 at 12:29

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