Hello everybody,
As you can guess I’m doing some English tests before my exam -and this is why I ask so many questions. What is the difference between "IN POSSESSION OF" and "IN THE POSSESSION OF"? and "ABSORBED BY" and "ABSORBED IN"? Thank you very much for your help and for your patience.
Cramming - that’s the word I use for stuffing things into my head before an exam. Good luck with it!
There is a subtle difference between the first two sentences:
"I am not in possession of my faculties."
"The diamond is in the possession of criminals."
Don’t ask me why, but ‘the’ is used to turn the phrase passive.
The same difference (I like having my differences all the same) occurs with the other set.
"Oxygen is absorbed in the bloodstream."
"The fish ‘n’ chip shop was absorbed by McDonald’s"
The effect is the same: one ends up in the other. However, ‘by’ is used to mark agents of action in passive verbs (‘be’ + past participle = ‘is/was absorbed’), whereas ‘in simply tells us where the oxygen is absorbed.
I think ‘be in possession of’ is a phrasal verb, whereas ‘in the possession of’ is a prepositional phrase. I had never noticed how the definite article cleverly indicates that this is not a phrasal verb:
"The diamond + was + in the possession of the criminals."
Subject + copula + prepositional phrase
"The criminals + were in possession of + the diamond."
Subject + phrasal verb + object
Amazingly, the different constructions form an active/passive pair.
The ‘absorbed’ thing is merely a matter of prepositions. The verb is used in the passive voice, and ‘by’ is the usual marker for the agent in the passive. The meaning of ‘absorb’ is that something goes into something else, and so ‘in’ indicates the recipient of absorption. This isn’t quite active/passive because something can be both the agent and recipient. The choice of preposition emphasizes one over the other - blood simply receives oxygen, whereas McDonald’s is taking over my little shop.
Anders, at the risk of having hell absorb my miserable soul, may I point out that "resorption" means to absorb again, according to my dictionary.
Amendment humbly proffered,
RK
RK,
The following is a list of technical words that include "resorption." Judging from the list, "re-sorption" has the same emphatic effect as "re-iterate" does in comparison to "iterate."
resorption atelectasis
resorption by organization
resorption fever
resorption of dental root
resorption of the bone
iron resorption test
accelerated trabecular bone resorption
bone resorption
idiopathic internal resorption
internal resorption
pharmacologic inhibition of osteoclastic bone resorption
ridge resorption
root resorption
severe bone resorption
Dear RK, please avoid absorbtion, we enjoy you too much here. But it sounds like your point has been desorbed!!
Do not try to adsorb to your position! (And do not confuse with insorb, because that was another ‘thread’ altogether.) Although the unsorbed truth may be harsh it cannot be sugar coated. But there is hope: a little besorb will remove any trace of unsightly postings.
(Katy—how about including a sample in the welcome baskets; everyone needs it eventually!) :D
You might also want to stock up on protective gear to ansorb anything you accidentally step in (such as the commentary here on exsorb) although I am sure that you are sufficiently in possession of your faculites to avoid it!
Many times when I have been absorbed by my work I have reflected on the dual uses of the prefix. I felt reassured that there was no need to regard my post as a subject for punning or misunderstanding.
A friend of mine, visiting New Zealand, has just been zorbing. The activity involves being placed inside a large inflatable, clear ball and thrown down a hillside.
That sounds like fun, Garzo. Perhaps you could employ that [much more shock-absorbing than in a barrel!] technique to brave the Niagara Falls when you meet Katy for a cuppa coffee? :D
[quote author=KatyBr link=board=what;num=1087133547;start=0#12 date=06/14/04 at 17:51:17]I just got ahold of a great scone recipe
A great matter of social distinction in the UK is whether one pronounces ‘scone’ to rhyme with ‘gone’ or ‘cone’. The real problem is that nobody can decide which is the more posh. Wahdyuh sayee Katy?
[quote author=KatyBr link=board=what;num=1087133547;start=0#12 date=06/14/04 at 17:51:17]and I make a mean cuppa coffee…[ellipses ellided]
Isn’t it funny: be careful of that mug, the coffee’s really mean!
... Now Wouldn’t THAT be loverly?
[quote author=KatyBr link=board=what;num=1087133547;start=0#12 date=06/14/04 at 17:51:17]got it down pat!
I can jus’ think of cows, and that gives a different meaning!
I’m sure your acres are for paradise rather than bovine subsistance.
The ADHD tells us - gather round -
scone [skôn, skon ]
n.
A small, rich, biscuitlike pastry or quick bread, sometimes baked on a griddle.
Utah: Yeast bread dough, deep-fried and served with honey and butter or with a savory filling.
[Perhaps from Dutch schoonbrood, fine white bread, from Middle Dutch schoonbroot : schoon, bright + broot, bread.]
Scones are traditional with clotted cream and jam in Devon and Cornwall. However, the effect of dialect often means that they are baked on a girdle - or maybe that’s just the slimline version!
Since the word "absorbed" came up . . . I couldn’t help thinking of "self-absorbed": adj. absorbed in oneself or one’s, thoughts, affairs, etc. (New World Dictionary)
Now this is what happens to creative people, isn’t it? They become so absorbed, so engrossed in what they’re doing, sometimes to the exclusion of everything around them, that they almost have to be pried away from their focus of attention.
Another example, I suppose, would be the so-called absent-minded professor, lost in thought, concentrating, pondering, etc.
But every time I’ve heard "self-absorbed," it always had a selfish connotation . . . worshipping the other trinity—Me, Myself, and I.
