possess
part of speech
verb (possess, possesses, possessed, possessing)
meaning for a pupil
1) (formal) To own or have something. tree →
2) (formal) To have a quality or skill. tree →
3) (of a feeling or spirit) To take control of someone's mind, as in stories about ghosts. tree →
4) (informal, in questions) "What possessed you?" = why on earth did you do that? tree →
sense in the lessons
A formal word for "have" in exam problems: "Tom possesses 12 marbles". In stories, people can be "possessed" by spirits. Phrases: in possession of, what possessed you, possessed by.
examples
- Tom possesses 12 marbles and gives away 5. tree →
- She possesses great courage. tree →
- The museum possesses a famous painting. tree →
- In the story, the doll was possessed by a ghost. tree →
- What possessed you to climb on the roof? tree →
- Do you possess a library card? tree →
- He possesses a talent for drawing. tree →
- "We'll give you half of all we possess." tree →
note
Spelling: double s twice: possess. Noun: possession. In a maths problem "possesses" simply means "has": the number is how many the person has at the start.
In the corpora
- The Rat: «He is now possessed.
- thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the LORD thy GOD giveth thee to possess it.
- All thy trees and the fruit of thy land shall the locust possess.
- Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land.
- Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess?
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «possess» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.