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Literary notes about Those (AI summary)

The word "those" in literature frequently functions as a demonstrative adjective or pronoun, pointing to specific groups, objects, times, or qualities already known or implied. Authors use it to evoke immediacy and familiarity, as seen when Mark Twain contrasts past and present days ("English law was hard-hearted in those days" [1]) or when Shakespeare invokes past deeds ("I mov'd him to those arms" [2]). It also helps create vivid imagery through close association, whether referring to the physical ("it's habits colour and contour appear to be precisely those of the large swan" [3]) or the abstract ("What do they mean—those crazy fools—by saying that happiness is not lasting?" [4]). Moreover, "those" often qualifies members of a group ("Membership in the club is limited to those who are contributing" [5]) or reminisces about bygone qualities ("How exquisite are the remembrances of those old springtimes!" [6]). In using "those," writers can neatly anchor their descriptions in shared cultural, historical, or emotional contexts, drawing readers into the narrative through a subtle yet powerful call to recognition and memory.
  1. English law was hard-hearted in those days.
    — from Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World by Mark Twain
  2. Say he be taken, rack'd, and tortured; I know no pain they can inflict upon him Will make him say I mov'd him to those arms.
    — from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare
  3. it's habits colour and contour appear to be precisely those of the large swan.
    — from The Journals of Lewis and Clark, 1804-1806 by William Clark and Meriwether Lewis
  4. “What do they mean, darling—those crazy fools—by saying that happiness is not lasting, and how do they understand that word?
    — from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova
  5. Membership in the club is limited to those who are contributing to the publicity fund, and to their salesmen and customers.
    — from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers
  6. How exquisite are the remembrances of those old springtimes!
    — from Complete Original Short Stories of Guy De Maupassant by Guy de Maupassant

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