Literary notes about Competent (AI summary)
Literature employs "competent" to convey not only adequacy but also a nuanced mix of skill, authority, and reliability. Authors use it to describe characters who are intellectually capable or sufficiently trained, as when a character is portrayed as "intelligent and very competent" [1] or when a state official is noted for standing at the head of a great trading house due to his competence [2]. The term often suggests that the person or agent has the requisite education or experience to execute a task well, whether that be a student who is "thoroughly competent" [3] or a janitor trusted to enforce standards in a building [4]. In more formal or judgmental contexts, "competent" identifies those whose decisions are respected by their peers or superiors, highlighting a standard of proficiency expected in legal, political, or social arenas [5, 6, 7]. Thus, across a wide spectrum of literary works, competence becomes a marker of effectiveness and trustworthiness in both everyday activities and matters of great consequence.
- Domenico was intelligent and very competent.
— from The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim - [80] According to John Villani, a competent authority on such a point, [81] he was at the head of one of the greatest trading houses in the world.
— from The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: The Inferno by Dante Alighieri - He has had several years' experience and is thoroughly competent.
— from The Elements of Style by William Strunk - A competent janitor was put in charge to see that the rules were observed by the tenants, when Miss Collins herself was not there.
— from How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York by Jacob A. Riis - In Washington Hay was the only competent man in the party for diplomatic work.
— from The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams - The matter was settled at the time, and by the competent authorities,—equitably, it is to be presumed,—and, at all events, irrevocably.
— from The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne - What is his relation to the subject at issue? ( b ) Is he mentally competent?
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein
