impossibility
part of speech
noun (impossibility, impossibilities)
meaning for a pupil
1) Impossibility is the state of being impossible: something that cannot happen or cannot be done. tree →
2) An impossibility is a thing that cannot happen. tree →
sense in the lessons
In maths, probability lessons say an impossible event has a probability of 0, such as rolling a 7 on a normal six-sided dice. In logic, an impossibility is something that contradicts itself, like a square circle. In stories, heroes face near-impossibilities. Phrases: a near impossibility, a physical impossibility, a logical impossibility.
examples
- Rolling a 7 on one normal dice is an impossibility. tree →
- Winning without practice is close to an impossibility. tree →
- A square circle is a logical impossibility. tree →
- Being in two places at once is a physical impossibility. tree →
- Getting a ticket was almost an impossibility. tree →
- The impossibility of the task made them want to try harder. tree →
- They declared that the problem would never be solved, that the thing was an impossibility. tree →
note
Countable and uncountable. In maths, impossible = probability 0; very unlikely is not the same as impossible (probability above 0). Adjective: impossible.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «impossibility» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.