WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Grammar Minute: The Magic of "Iff"

Episode Date: March 21, 2024

I sneeze if I pet cats, but I become joyful iff I pet cats. Learn the difference on today's episode of Grammar Minute, and visit thegrammarminute.com for more tips and tricks.

Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we're saving the English language 60 seconds at a time. I'm Lauren Smith, and I'm here to introduce a great new word, if, spelled IFF. This term is borrowed from mathematics and logic. If with one F represents a conditional statement. If I pet a cat, I will sneeze. This doesn't exclude the possibility that other things could also make me sneeze. And that's what's so special about if with two Fs. It does exclude other possibilities, meaning if,

and only if. I will sneeze. I F.F. I pet a cat means that under no other circumstances, will I sneeze? The unfortunate thing about this term is that it's really only useful in print writing and a lot of people will just assume you've made a typo. So if you're writing to a non-mathematically trained audience, you probably want to use the wordy but easily understood if and only if. Otherwise, however, the double F if is a great way to get the point across. That's your grammar minute. Thank you.