possible
part of speech
adjective (possible)
meaning for a pupil
1) Possible means it can happen or can be done. tree →
2) «As soon as possible» means as soon as you can. tree →
3) «The best possible» means the best there can be. tree →
sense in the lessons
In school maths: in chance and counting problems — things that can happen; «how many are possible», «as many as possible», «the largest possible number». In science: making possible ideas (predictions) and testing them. In everyday life: «Is it possible to...?», «if possible». Phrases: «as soon as possible», «as much as possible», «if possible», «impossible» (the opposite).
examples
- How many different pairs are possible? tree →
- Make the largest possible number with 3, 5 and 1. tree →
- Is it possible to share 7 sweets equally between 2? tree →
- Pack as many boxes as possible. tree →
- Is it possible to visit the Moon? tree →
- Please reply as soon as possible. tree →
- With practice, anything is possible. tree →
- It is possible that it will snow tonight. tree →
- "Is it possible to catch them?" tree →
note
Opposite: «impossible». «Possibly» means maybe. Maths: asks to count all ways or find a best value. Trap: «as many as possible» usually means drop the remainder (whole boxes only).
In the corpora
- Banks use AI to spot unusual spending and block possible fraud; sometimes a real payment is blocked by mistake.
- «it is quite against animal-etiquette to dwell on possible trouble ahead» — etiquette = the rules of polite behaviour.
- When a text does not give a reason, a good reader can say what is possible but does not claim it is certain.
- Children under about 12 or 13 sit in the back seat where possible, because front airbags open with great force.
- A late library book is returned as soon as possible, because some libraries charge fines.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «possible» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.