《当代英美语惯用法词典》认为 It’s possible后一般不接that从句，因此不用*It is entirely possible that I can fulfill the task ahead of schedule. 这是真的吗？
It is possible后一般不接that从句吗
■倪肖丁(西安)
江希和教授在《当代英美语惯用法词典》（上海外语教育出版社
2001 ）第543页possible词条指出：
possible用于it be possible (for sb) to +v.这一句型中。如：It is entirely
possible for me to fulfill the task ahead of schedule. 但it be possible (for sb)后一般不接that从句。上句不能写成：*It is entirely possible that I can fulfill the task ahead of
schedule.
真的不可以用
It is possible that…句型吗？
答案当然是可以用。事实上，It’s
possible (for sb) to do sth和It’s
possible that从句这两种句式都存在。《当代英美语惯用法词典》（以下简称《词典》）关于“it
be possible (for sb)后一般不接that从句”的说法既不严谨也不科学，其提供的反面例证则实际上是正确的句子。
首先，《词典》的表述是“it
be possible (for sb)后一般不接that从句”。我们知道，括号表示该部分（此处指for
sb）可以用也可以不用。这就意味着，《词典》认为it
be possible和it
be possible for sb这两个结构后都不能用that从句。这种把两个不同结构绑定在一起，并一概而论地予以否定的做法很不严谨。因为后一结构不能接that从句是显而易见的。这种捆绑式否定可能导致读者对前一结构的忽视，从而产生对《词典》相关结论的盲从。
其次，被《词典》判为错误而否定的例句是*It
is entirely possible that I can fulfill the task ahead of schedule。应该说，这与《词典》认为it be possible 后一般不接that从句的观点是一脉相承的，但却是同样错误的。因为It’s
possible 后跟that从句是一个常见句式。这在一般英文辞书和语法参考书中都有介绍和例句。例如：
I suppose it's just possible
that I can help you out.
Is it possible that they
can't afford to rent that apartment?
It is possible that she decided
not to join us.
It is possible that a tax
cut might have some stimulative effect.
It's possible that stocks
could take a tumble next year.
It is possible that there's
an explanation for all this.
Is it possible he'll phone
you?
说到这儿，我们不得不提请读者注意：我们在肯定it be possible that从句的正当性的同时，也不否认这一结构具有一定的局限性，有时还真的不能用。
