Word Confusion: Position versus Possession

Posted October 22, 2024 by kddidit in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

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I grant you that the word confusion position versus possession can sound alike, but I gotta say the gun is not “John’s prized position”.

A position is a place where someone or something is put, a stance taken,

A possession is all about mine.

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Exploring Later . . .

You may want to explore posts under Grammar Explanations for “Feeling Possessive?“, possessive adjectives, possessive determiners, possessive nouns, and possessive pronouns.

There’s a Linguistic post on creating a possessive proper name.

Of course the Properly Punctuated post on using apostrophes to indicate the possessive is very useful.

Word Confusions such as “It’s versus Its“, “Whoever vs Whosoever vs Whomever vs Whosever“, and “Yore vs You’re vs Your” can be helpful.

When it comes to pluralizing words, please do explore “Plurals“. For physical possession, there’s aways the word confusion “Daemon versus Demon“.

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Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

If you found this post on “Position versus Possession” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

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Position	Possession
Yoga by Dave Rosenblum is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — This position is called Utthita Padangusthasana II.	Puppy Hungry for “Big Bone” by Jack Fiallos is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr. — This puppy is definitely in possession of this bone.
Part of Grammar:
Noun; Verb, transitive Plural for the noun: positions Gerund: positioning Third person present verb: positions Past tense or past participle: positioned Present participle: positioning	Morpheme: possess Noun Plural: possessions
Noun: A place where someone or something is located or has been put The location where someone or something should be The correct place [Often positions] A place where part of a military force is posted for strategic purposes A particular way in which someone or something is placed or arranged The arrangement of the pieces or cards at any particular time in a game such as chess, checkers, or bridge [Music] A particular location of the hand on the fingerboard of a stringed instrument [Music] A particular location of the slide of a trombone [Music] The arrangement of the constituent notes of a chord A situation or set of circumstances, especially one that affects one’s power to act The state of being placed where one has an advantage over one’s rivals in a competitive situation A person’s place or rank in relation to others, especially in a competitive situation High rank or social standing A job [In team games] A set of functions considered as the responsibility of a particular player based on the location in which they play A person’s point of view or attitude toward something An investor’s net holdings in one or more markets at a particular time The status of an individual or institutional trader’s open contracts [Logic] A proposition laid down or asserted A tenet or assertion Verb, transitive: To put or arrange (someone or something) in a particular place or way To promote (a product, service, or business) within a particular sector of a market, or as the fulfillment of that sector’s specific requirements To portray or regard (someone) as a particular type of person	Noun: The state of having, owning, or controlling something [Law] Visible power or control over something, as distinct from lawful ownership Holding or occupancy [Informal] The state of possessing an illegal drug [In football, basketball, and other ball games] Temporary control of the ball by a particular player or team [Usually possessions] An item of property Something belonging to one A territory or country controlled or governed by another The state of being controlled by a demon or spirit The state of being completely under the influence of an idea or emotion
Examples:
Noun: The distress call had given the ship’s position. Mrs Snell had taken up her position on the bottom step of the stairs. Make sure that no slates have slipped out of position. The lid was put into position and screwed down. The guns were shelling the German positions. He moved himself into a reclining position. A cramp forced her to change position. You know very well that rooks are positioned on the outside corners of the board. You should be familiar with the first six positions across the four strings. The slide needs to be in sixth position for that note. The default position for a chord is the root note. We felt we were not in a position to judge the merits of the case. His successors were already jockeying for position. He made up ground to finish in second position. She was a woman of supposed wealth and position. She retired from her position as marketing director. It gives every player a chance to play every fielding position. I’ll never accept his position on censorship. Traders were covering short positions. The default position of logic is always disbelief. Verb, transitive: He pulled out a chair and positioned it between them. She positioned herself on a bench. It was a comprehensive development plan that will position the city as a major economic force in the region. I had positioned her as my antagonist.	Noun: He had taken possession of one of the sofas. The book came into my possession. Are you in possession of any items over $500 in value? Both teams attempting to gain possession of the ball. They were imprisoned for possession of explosives. They’re charged with possession. The ball hit a defender and Brown’s quick reaction put him in possession. I was alone with no money or possessions. That photograph was Bert’s most precious possession. France’s former colonial possessions included territories in Africa, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania. They prayed for protection against demonic possession. Fear took possession of my soul.
Derivatives:
Adjective: positional, positionless, well-positioned Adverb: positionally Noun: positionality Verb: misposition	Adjective: possessionless
History of the Word:
Late Middle English from the Old French, from the Latin positio(n-), from ponere meaning to place. The current sense of the verb dates from the early 19th century.	Middle English from the Old French possesser, from the Latin possessio(n-), from the verb possidere, from potis (able, capable) + sedere (sit).

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Building Your Website, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Marketing Help & Resources, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, and/or Writing Ideas and Resources.