Re: composite preposition with two opposite meanings

On Jul 28, 2006, at 11:20 AM, Roger Mills wrote:

> 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:
[snip]

I forgot about another expression where the presence or absence of
"the" matters - "in case of" vs. "in the case of."  "Wear galoshes in
case of rain" means to wear galoshes regardless of whether it
actually rains or not, because it might; whereas "wear galoshes in
the case of rain" means only to wear them if it does in fact rain.

(Actually, maybe I'm wrong; the second sentence sounds strange to me
now.  I think I would have to change it to "in the case of rain, wear
galoshes" or even "in the case of it raining, wear galoshes" for it
to sound natural.  Also it just occurred to me that "in the case
of ..." usually seems to refer back to something already mentioned,
whereas "in case of ..." doesn't necessarily.  Still, it always
strikes me as odd when I see a fire alarm switch with the message "In
case of fire break glass and pull handle," because I interpret that
to mean that, in any event, I should break the glass, just in case a
fire breaks out :) )

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