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Naomi slammed down her chopsticks and lifted Takeshi by his collar, possible/possibly since she was two centimeters taller than him.

Should it be possible or possibly? Initially, I wrote possible but a native English speaker said it should be possibly.

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  • You've left out in your question what you intend your sentence to say. The usual collocation is possibly because, without any context, and it means "perhaps because"; i.e., the speaker is trying not to offer a definitive explanation.
    – user3395
    Commented Feb 26, 2018 at 1:59
  • I'm just going to add that 2 centimeters taller is not very much so it's not likely you are trying to describe why it is physically possible. With that in mind the native speaker is correct and it should be possibly.
    – TimK
    Commented Feb 26, 2018 at 6:23

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Both are correct with slightly different meaning. "Possible" stresses that Naomi is able to lift by the collar because she is taller; "possibly" emphasizes that she lifted him by the collar because she is taller.

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In your example

possible since she was two centimeters taller than him.
(this was) possible since she was two centimeters taller than him.

or

possibly since she was two centimeters taller than him.
(this happened because) she was two centimeters taller than him.

@userr2684291 is correct in saying this would usually be expressed as "possibly because".

possibly because she was two centimeters taller than him.

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