some doubt that/whether

[joham]

There exists some doubt ________ Apple's iPhone4 can work wonderfully as expected.

A. that B. whether C. which D. when

The given answer is B. But I think A works just as well. Am I right?

Thank you in advance.

 

[5jj]

There exists some doubt ________ Apple's iPhone4 can work wonderfully as expected.

A. that B. whether C. which D. when

The given answer is B. But I think A works just as well. Am I right?

Yes, in my opinion.

[FONT=&quot]With some verbs expressing in themselves lack of certainty it appears that THAT and IF can both be used, with little practical difference in meaning between:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]1. I doubt if he was there.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2.I doubt that he was there.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]In [1] the uncertainty about his being there may be stronger than in [2]; only the context of the utterance can make this clear. The difference is not important for practical purposes.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]With absence of doubt we return to certainty, and THAT is now the only appropriate choice:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]3. I don't doubt that he succeeded.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Adapted from: http://www.gramorak.com/Articles/If.pdf[/FONT]

 

[The Dude]

I have always found the following rule useful:

Use 'whether' if the doubt is positive, 'that' if it is negative or a question. So:

"I doubt whether it will work" = it won't work, in my opinion

"I have no doubt that it will work" = it will work

"Do you doubt that it will work?" = Is it your opinion that it won't work?

The same applies to 'doubtful'.

Sorry to muddy the waters.:roll:

 

[5jj]

I have always found the following rule useful:

Use 'whether' if the doubt is positive, 'that' if it is negative or a question

Examples in the corpora suggest that this 'rule' is not widely followed.

 

[joham]

Thank you for all your kind help. After reading your replies, I looked up the word 'doubt' in LONGMAN DICTIONARY ONLINE, and found to my surprise the following collocation:
there is little/some/no doubt (that) (=used to talk about how certain you are about something)

Does the collocation in blue mean that 'whether' can't be used?

Thank you again.

 

[The Dude]

That's confusing!

Once there is actual doubt, I would use 'whether'. So:

1. There is no doubt that...

2. There is little doubt that...

3. There is some doubt whether...

1 & 2 are saying almost the same thing: there is certainty. But 3 is saying something completely different and 'whether' emphasizes this uncertainty.