I woundered whether he might do it. & I wondered whether he might not do it.

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If I replace ‘might’ with ‘could’ will the meaning get changed?

Please clarify my doubts on these two matters. Thank you in advance.

Let’s look at the first sentence. If you need someone to drop you off at the airport and you’re wondering whether your friend could do it for you, “I was wondering whether he might do it” and “I was wondering whether he could do it” basically mean the same thing. This is specifically true because you’re using the verb “wonder” to basically say that you WANT him to do it, and in this case, “might” and “could” essentially play the same role. Note that I changed the examples to the past progressive tense to make it sound more natural (in English, we think of “wonder” as more of a continuous action). These two examples also basically mean the same thing:

  • I was wondering if you could do me a favor. (I would personally use this more)
  • I was wondering if you might do me a favor.

If, however, you don’t necessarily want anything from anyone and are wondering out of simple curiosity, the meanings of “might” and “could” do differ more. While “might” indicates POSSIBILITY, “could” indicates CAPABILITY. You can see the difference in these examples:

  • I was wondering if he might come to the party. (Questions whether he WILL come or not)
  • I was wondering if he could come to the party.  (Questions whether he CAN come or not)

The same goes for the second sentence you gave, which contains the word “not.” However, it’s unusual to pair the words “whether” and “not” together because the word “whether” already implies “if or not,” without emphasizing one over the other. Maybe this would be a better way to phrase the sentence:

  • I was wondering whether he might do it or not.
  • I was wondering if he wasn’t going to do it.
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