Literary notes about Usage (AI summary)
The word “usage” has been employed in literature with a striking diversity that reflects its multifaceted character. In some texts, it serves as a marker of established grammatical rules and written standards, as when authors refer to the “best usage” to guide language practices ([1], [2], [3]). In other instances, “usage” denotes customary or habitual practices within society and legal systems, underscoring the role of tradition and collective behavior ([4], [5], [6]). The term is also used critically, highlighting deviations from normative patterns—whether in everyday language, as with ill-usage in literary narratives ([7], [8], [9]), or even in abstract discussions about the nature of thought and expression ([10], [11]). Thus, across genres from technical guides ([12], [13]) to social commentary and fiction ([14], [15]), “usage” encapsulates both the prescriptive and descriptive aspects of language and behavior, evidencing its enduring and versatile presence in literature.
- Grammar and Usage Since language is the expression of thought, the rules of grammar agree, in the main, with the laws of thought.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - The rules sometimes given for such a distinction are not supported by the best usage.
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - Correct usage of words and phrases, 58-62 .
— from Etiquette by Emily Post - The second class of Sūtras, which deal with social and legal usage, is, like the Gṛihya Sūtras, also based on smṛiti or tradition.
— from A History of Sanskrit Literature by Arthur Anthony Macdonell - The term Sitte (mores) is a synonym of habit and of usage, of convention and tradition, but also of fashion, propriety, practise, and the like.
— from Introduction to the Science of Sociology by E. W. Burgess and Robert Ezra Park - The people receive allowances of corn, and the rich support the needy, according to an ancient usage.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) by Strabo - What is the matter, that with all his ill usage of me, I cannot hate him?
— from Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson - In doing this, I underwent a kind of rough usage, ill befitting the wounds that my mind had sustained.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - Her rosy blondness had survived some forty years of futile activity without showing much trace of ill-usage except in a diminished play of feature.
— from The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton - But a truth about a thing is not part of the thing itself, although it must, according to the above usage, be part of the 'nature' of the thing.
— from The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell - In common Greek usage, however, the term just mentioned would signify excellence in purely speculative science, no less than practical wisdom
— from The Methods of Ethics by Henry Sidgwick - Debian GNU/Linux : Guide to Installation and Usage Navigation Panel Next: Booting the Installation System Up:
— from Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie - Limited free usage.
— from The Online World by Odd De Presno - Of a truth it doth indeed, fair lord, albeit ’tis passing hard to say, though peradventure that will not tarry but better speed with usage.
— from A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain - But now, after such dishonorable usage, who can tell what were his designs on her.
— from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
