What is the difference between Someone possesses something. and Someone is possessed of something. ?Feel free to just provide example sentences.

@you_wu

The question of whether a person possesses a quality, or whether the quality possesses them – there is no right way to say it, because it’s not something that we have a fixed idea about.

If I say about someone – “He was possessed of the most incredible insight into matters relating to boatbuilding“ – I am almost suggesting that there is something uncanny or supernatural about his skill, because it seems to be bigger than him, it possesses him rather than the other way around. This is not a literal belief – well, it can be, but it doesn’t have to be – but rather a mode of speaking. It’s a way of making the person seem just a little bit magical, a little bit unique.

But I could just as easily say – he possesses much skill in the field of boatbuilding – and the basic meaning is exactly the same. The only thing that has changed is that I haven’t suggested that his skill comes from outside himself.

Modern life is so secular and mechanistic, that suggesting that somebody’s skill comes from a higher source has stopped being normal and now sounds quite literary. It is still common, but people don’t really pay attention to the difference in meaning.