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Literary notes about containing (AI summary)

The word “containing” is frequently used in literature to indicate that one object, text, or idea holds or comprises something else—a concept that spans both the literal and metaphorical. In physical descriptions, for instance, it may denote an envelope with a white feather [1] or a tin trunk holding new possessions [2]. In literary titles or chapter headings, “containing” signals that the following text comprises specific content, as seen in chapter introductions that note “containing little or nothing” [3] or declarations such as “Containing a very surprizing adventure indeed” [4]. Its use extends into instructional and grammatical contexts too, where phrases like “Write five sentences containing descriptive adjectives” [5] highlight its function as a modifier that links an object with its attributes. Thus, whether delving into detailed scientific accounts [6] or establishing allegorical layers in narrative works [7], the term “containing” consistently serves to bridge and define the relationship between a container and its contents.
  1. " Walter wrote that some one had sent him an envelope containing a white feather.
    — from Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery
  2. At ten-thirty Tuppence surveyed with pride a slightly battered tin trunk containing her new possessions.
    — from The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie
  3. IN THIS BOOK Chapter i. — Containing little or nothing.
    — from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
  4. Containing a very surprizing adventure indeed, which Mr Jones met with in his walk with the Man of the Hill.
    — from History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
  5. 2. Write five sentences containing descriptive adjectives; five containing definitive adjectives.
    — from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge
  6. If this is carefully done, a caffetannate of lead will be precipitated containing 49 percent of lead.
    — from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers
  7. The mystery here is not ‘Christ,’ but ‘Christ as containing in Himself all the treasures of wisdom’; see the note on i. 27 Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν.
    — from St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon by J. B. Lightfoot

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