What's the difference between either and whether?

Either


Definition:

  • (a. & pron.) One of two; the one or the other; -- properly used of two things, but sometimes of a larger number, for any one.
  • (a. & pron.) Each of two; the one and the other; both; -- formerly, also, each of any number.
  • (conj. Either) precedes two, or more, coordinate words or phrases, and is introductory to an alternative. It is correlative to or.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Combinations of maximum amounts of glucagon and the cyclic nucleotide did not produce a greater effect than either agent alone.
  • (2) This suggested that the chemical effects produced by shock waves were either absent or attenuated in the cells, or were inherently less toxic than those of ionizing irradiation.
  • (3) The rash presented either as a pityriasis rosea-like picture which appeared about three to six months after the onset of treatment in patients taking low doses, or alternatively, as lichenoid plaques which appeared three to six months after commencement of medication in patients taking high doses.
  • (4) The proportion of motile spermatozoa decreased with time at the same rate when samples were prepared in either HEPES or phosphate buffers.
  • (5) Twenty-seven patients were randomized to receive either 50 mg stanozolol or placebo intramuscularly 24 h before operation, followed by a 6 week course of either 5 mg stanozolol or placebo orally, twice daily.
  • (6) Cantact placing reaction times were measured in cats which were either restrained in a hammock or supported in a conventional way.
  • (7) It is followed by rapid neurobehavioral deterioration in late infancy or early childhood, a developmental arrest, plateauing, and then either a course of retarded development or continued deterioration.
  • (8) They’re no crack force either; many are rather portly!
  • (9) However, dexamethasone was more effective than either prednisone or cortisol (P less than 0.001).
  • (10) Results indicated a .85 probability that Directive Guidance would be followed by Cooperation; a .67 probability that Permissiveness would lead to Noncooperation; and a .97 likelihood that Coerciveness would lead to either Noncooperation or Resistance.
  • (11) The role of Ca2+ in cell agglutination may be either to activate the cell-surface dextran receptor or to form specific intercellular Ca2+ bridges.
  • (12) We conclude that only one of the alleles was amplified and that either allele could be amplified with respect to both the SphI and PvuII polymorphisms.
  • (13) A quadripolar catheter was positioned either at the site of earliest ventricular activation during induced monomorphic ventricular tachycardia or at circumscribed areas of the left ventricle.
  • (14) Further analysis with two other synthetic peptides (212Cys to 222Glu and Cys X 221Ile to 236Glu) indicated that the dodecapeptide Ile-Glu-Phe-Gln-Lys-Asn-Asn-Arg-Leu-Leu-Glu mimicked either the whole or a major part of the neutralization epitope.
  • (15) Infection with opportunistic organisms, either singly or in combination, is known to occur in immunocompromised patients.
  • (16) Based on several previous studies, which demonstrated that sorbitol accumulation in human red blood cells (RBCs) was a function of ambient glucose concentrations, either in vitro or in vivo, our investigations were conducted to determine if RBC sorbitol accumulation would correlate with sorbitol accumulation in lens and nerve tissue of diabetic rats; the effect of sorbinil in reducing sorbitol levels in lens and nerve tissue of diabetic rats would be reflected by changes in RBC sorbitol; and sorbinil would reduce RBC sorbitol in diabetic man.
  • (17) Nucleotide, which is essential for catalysis, greatly enhances the binding of IpOHA by the reductoisomerase, with NADPH (normally present during the enzyme's rearrangement step, i.e., conversion of a beta-keto acid into an alpha-keto acid, in either the forward or reverse physiological reactions) being more effective than NADP.
  • (18) These results indicate that HBV markers in cord blood are either false-positive or due to contamination by maternal blood rather than an indication of in utero infection.
  • (19) The enzyme, when assayed as either a phospholipase A2 or lysophospholipase, exhibited nonlinear kinetics beyond 1-2 min despite low substrate conversion.
  • (20) Other intestinal cells immunostained with either GLP or somatostatin-34 antiserum.

Whether


Definition:

  • (pron.) Which (of two); which one (of two); -- used interrogatively and relatively.
  • (conj.) In case; if; -- used to introduce the first or two or more alternative clauses, the other or others being connected by or, or by or whether. When the second of two alternatives is the simple negative of the first it is sometimes only indicated by the particle not or no after the correlative, and sometimes it is omitted entirely as being distinctly implied in the whether of the first.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Here we have asked whether protection from blood-borne antigens afforded by the blood-brain barrier is related to the lack of MHC expression.
  • (2) This study was undertaken to determine whether the survival of Hispanic patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck was different from that of Anglo-American patients.
  • (3) We determined whether serological investigations can assist to distinguish between chronic idiopathic autoimmune thrombocytopenia (cAITP) and immune-mediated thrombocytopenia in patients at risk to develop systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE); 82 patients were seen in this institution for the evaluation of immune thrombocytopenia.
  • (4) Whether hen's egg yolk can be used as a sperm motility stimulant in the treatment of such conditions as asthenospermia and oligospermia is subjected for further study.
  • (5) The present study examined whether the lack of chronic hemodynamic effects of ANP in control rats was due to changes in vascular reactivity to the peptide.
  • (6) Because many wnt genes are also expressed in the lung, we have examined whether the wnt family member wnt-2 (irp) plays a role in lung development.
  • (7) A remarkable deterioration of prognosis with increasing age rises the question whether treatment with cytotoxic drugs should be tried in patients more than 60 years old.
  • (8) We investigated whether these peptides also affect the sleep EEG in humans when given intravenously by comparing polysomnographically the effects of four boluses of (1) placebo, (2) 50 micrograms GHRH or (3) 50 micrograms SRIF administered at 22.00, 23.00, 24.00 and 1.00 h to 7 male controls.
  • (9) In experiments performed to determine whether PtdIns(4,5)P2 hydrolysis induced by TRH may have been caused by the elevation of [Ca2+]i, the following results were obtained: the effect of TRH to decrease the level of PtdIns(4,5)P2 was not reproduced by the calcium ionophore A23187 or by membrane depolarization with 50 mM K+; the calcium antagonist TMB-8 did not inhibit the TRH-induced decrease in PtdIns(4,5)P2; and, most importantly, inhibition by EGTA of the elevation of [Ca2+]i did not inhibit the TRH-induced decrease in PtdIns(4,5)P2.
  • (10) To determine whether or not the glycan moieties in hTPO play a role in the disease-associated epitopes in Hashimoto's thyroiditis, radiolabeled recombinant hTPO was immunoprecipitated after digestion with N-glycanase.
  • (11) Many problems at the macroscopic level require clarification of how an animal uses a compartment of suite of muscles and whether morphological differences reflect functional ones.
  • (12) Friend erythroleukemia cells were induced to differentiate by dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and hexamethylene-bis-acetamide (HBMA) in order to investigate whether their lipid characteristics, common to other systems of transformed cells, revert to a normal differentiation pattern.
  • (13) When you have been out for a month you need to prepare properly before you come back.” Pellegrini will make his own assessment of Kompany’s fitness before deciding whether to play him in the Bournemouth game, which he is careful to stress may not be the foregone conclusion the league table might suggest.
  • (14) The Hamilton-Wentworth regional health department was asked by one of its municipalities to determine whether the present water supply and sewage disposal methods used in a community without piped water and regional sewage disposal posed a threat to the health of its residents.
  • (15) We investigated the incidence of skin cancer among patients who received high doses of PUVA to see whether such incidence increased.
  • (16) There is, however, conflicting evidence as to whether squamous cell NPCs are also EBV-associated.
  • (17) One of the most interesting aspects of the shadow cabinet elections, not always readily interpreted because of the bizarre process of alliances of convenience, is whether his colleagues are ready to forgive and forget his long years as Brown's representative on earth.
  • (18) The authors describe the special medical expertise of the psychiatrist and define 11 indicators, such as a patient's need for new psychotropic medication or the presence of symptoms requiring medical or laboratory procedures, that can be used to determine whether psychiatric expertise is needed.
  • (19) It was not clear whether Mn2+ acted at the presynaptic membrane, the postsynaptic membrane or both.
  • (20) Thus it is unclear how a language learner determines whether German even has a regular plural, and if so what form it takes.