Re: composite preposition with two opposite meanings

Remé Uittenbogaard wrote:
>
> Apparently the expression "in possession of" can mean two opposite things.
>
> This book is in possession of my brother.
> I have been in possession of this book for years.
>
Disagree. I think there has to be a "the" in the first case. Consider also:

Satan is in possession of my brother = Satan owns/controls my brother

Satan is in the possession of my brother = my brother somehow controls
Satan.

All our bases are _in the possession of_ the enemy.
The enemy is _in possession of_ all our bases.

Agreed, it's a curious construction, which frankly I'd never thought about
before... it seems to be a sort of passive/active distinction.

X possesses Y : X is in possession of Y
Y is possessed by X: Y is in the possession of X

And offhand I can't think of any comparable expressions.

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