Literary notes about first (AI summary)
The word "first" serves as a versatile marker in literature, functioning both to establish temporal sequence and to signal priority or order. Authors frequently deploy it to indicate the beginning of an event or feeling, as in portraying the onset of grief or realization [1] and the initial breath of life [2]. It also appears to enunciate steps in processes or instructions, such as in a recipe where one must “first boil the water” [3], or to structure arguments and narratives in a sequential order [4, 5]. In historical or action-driven texts, “first” marks the commencement of significant events, whether that’s the opening move of a military campaign [6] or the starting point of a pivotal personal encounter [7].
- I had so much of my old heart left, as to be at first grieved by this evident dislike on the part of a creature which had once so loved me.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Edgar Allan Poe - When the child draws its first breath do not confine it in tight wrappings.
— from Emile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau - The improved Turkish recipe is as follows: First boil the water.
— from All About Coffee by William H. Ukers - These attitudes are—first, standing with the hands clasped behind the back; and, secondly, with the hands resting on the hips.
— from Malay Magic by Walter William Skeat - The first three books are translated by De la Porte du Theil and Coraÿ together.
— from The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3) by Strabo - COMMENCEMENT OF THE GRAND CAMPAIGN—GENERAL BUTLER'S POSITION—SHERIDAN'S FIRST RAID.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. Grant - It was the first time he had ever struck me; and fear did not enable me to control my anger.
— from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself by Harriet A. Jacobs
