Whether or if
A sentence:
The manager knows if the night shift waiter has left or if the cook has left or if the greeter has left.
another sentence:
The manager knows whether the night shift waiter has left or whether the cook has left or whether the greeter has left.
Two possible readings: (1) The manager knows three facts, each relating to one person, namely, if they left or not; (2) The manager knows just one thing, about just one person, namely, if that one person left or not.
Which readings go with which sentences? I originally though that one of the sentences could have both readings, but the other one could only have one (or at least strongly preferred only one), but I lost that intuition straightaway.
In future installments look for: why I think an innocent little paragraph in Chris Kennedy and Louise McNally’s article on gradable predicates argues against little v, and some exposition on the interpretation of 3sg pronouns and why they’re simpler than some people might think.