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Literary notes about case (AI summary)

The word "case" functions in literature with remarkable flexibility, serving as both a tangible object and an abstract situation. At times it refers to a physical container, as in a leather case holding a bottle and glass [1] or a glass case observed with quiet scrutiny [2]. In other contexts, it designates a specific situation or instance under discussion—whether it be a legal proceeding [3], a condition that demands response [4], or a circumstance that shapes character behavior [5]. Authors also extend its meaning to technical and grammatical fields, as when referring to the accusative case after an interjection [6] or noting its possessive form [7]. Additionally, phrases like “in that case” seamlessly mark transitions or consequences within dialogues and narrative descriptions [8] [9] [10], illustrating how the word can underpin both everyday and specialized language uses in literary texts.
  1. “A leather case with a bottle and glass in.”
    — from Adam Bede by George Eliot
  2. He sighed and turned again to the glass case.
    — from Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad
  3. "Mr. Jarndyce," he said, "consider my case.
    — from Bleak House by Charles Dickens
  4. But it will be urged that it is only in the case of a war that we shall be found useful.
    — from The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
  5. He cried like a child when the doctor told him the case was dangerous.”
    — from War and Peace by graf Leo Tolstoy
  6. Accusative case after an interjection.... VERSHININ.
    — from Plays by Anton Chekhov, Second Series by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
  7. It is in the possessive case, modifying the noun boat .
    — from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge
  8. “I am glad of it, because in that case it will be all the easier for you to abstain from frequent visits.
    — from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova
  9. “In that case I will try to find a private box.”
    — from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova
  10. “Since that is the case, I am sure I shall not tease you any further.
    — from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

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