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Here is a GRE question.

The reclusive clergyman may have lived and died in melancholy, but this doesn’t seem to have hampered his genius in any way. On the contrary, we find ourselves wondering whether his genius wasn’t (ii)_____ in some mysterious way by his mood.

the correct answer for the blank is "served".

The meaning of second sentence, I guess, is: the clergyman's mood (though melancholic or not good) could serve (or contribute) to his talent in some mysterious (but good) way.

But I can't understand why the author use "wondering whether...wasn't" here. Compare:

(1) we wonder whether A was B.

(2) we wonder whether A wasn't B.

These two propositions are logically the same, since in both sentences we don't know whether or not A is B. But (2) seems to suggest that A wasn't B is our default answer or acutal view, though we are not sure about it.

But here in the context, the default answer(or the view actually held by the author) is that A was B, i.e. the talent was served by the mood (in a good way). So I feel that the usage of "whether wasn't" is strange, as it suggests the contray.

Why doesn't the author simply use "whether was"? Or what does the author want to express by "whether wasn't"?

By the way, there is a very similar post(here:Is "whether was not " equal to "whether"?) but it's closed due to unclear. I hope I put it clearer.

Thank you all in advance!

Strepsiades
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  • Look into litotes. – Dan Bron Jun 05 '20 at 10:01
  • There was an accepted answer at the original. In what way do you find this inadequate? Admittedly, the answerer doesn't add supporting references, and (or but!) this is a rather unusual (though totally acceptable) usage. "I wonder whether John's back wasn't injured playing prop forward?" (summing up a train of thought/dialogue discussing John's back problems. '... was injured' would be used if his back hadn't been mentioned so far.) – Edwin Ashworth Jun 05 '20 at 10:28
  • The correct answer is served. Semantically, "was" or "wasn't" does not matter: as *whether* always implies the possible alternative although it is often unstated. "I don't know whether he paid [or [did] not [pay]]" The nuance of your example's negative is the writer being somewhat "arch" (MW - 2.a. : mischievous, saucy. b : marked by a deliberate and often forced playfulness, irony, or impudence known for her arch comments … decided to answer them by being teacherly in a sort of arch, Olympian way.) He is suggesting that we think it was served. – Greybeard Jun 05 '20 at 11:31

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