| Acknowledgements | 第1-7页 |
| 摘要 | 第7-8页 |
| Abstract | 第8-10页 |
| 前言 | 第10-14页 |
| 1 Introduction | 第14-16页 |
| ·The reason for and the significance of this topic | 第14页 |
| ·The structure of this thesis | 第14-16页 |
| 2 Literature Review | 第16-20页 |
| ·Studies abroad | 第16-18页 |
| ·Studies at home | 第18-20页 |
| 3 Theoretical Framework | 第20-33页 |
| ·X-bar theory | 第20-21页 |
| ·Checking theory | 第21-22页 |
| ·Head movement and Operator movement | 第22-30页 |
| ·Head movement | 第22-25页 |
| ·Operator movement | 第25-30页 |
| ·Speech act theory | 第30页 |
| ·Presupposition | 第30-33页 |
| 4 Syntactic Differences between Interrogative if-clause and whether-clause | 第33-45页 |
| ·Differences of category between if and whether | 第33-38页 |
| ·The category of if | 第33-34页 |
| ·The category of whether | 第34-38页 |
| ·Different properties of if and whether | 第38-40页 |
| ·Properties of if | 第38页 |
| ·Properties of whether | 第38-39页 |
| ·A comparison between properties of if and whether | 第39-40页 |
| ·Different distributions of interrogative if-clause and whether-clause | 第40-45页 |
| ·As the specifier of IP | 第40-41页 |
| ·As the complement of VP | 第41-43页 |
| ·As the complement of PP | 第43-45页 |
| 5 Pragmatic Differences between Interrogative if-clause and whether-clause | 第45-58页 |
| ·The different use of interrogative if-clause and whether-clause | 第45-51页 |
| ·The original use of if and whether | 第45-47页 |
| ·Preference of if-clause in reports of questions used as indirect speech acts | 第47-48页 |
| ·Perference of whether-clause after some matrix verbs | 第48-51页 |
| ·Difference of style of interrogative if-clause and whether-clause | 第51页 |
| ·Embedded alternative questions or embedded yes-no questions | 第51-54页 |
| ·"The Bias of if"and "the Non-Bias of whether" | 第54-58页 |
| ·The nature of difference | 第55页 |
| ·Presupposition of an embedded if-question | 第55-58页 |
| 6 Conclusion | 第58-60页 |
| References | 第60-61页 |
