Literary notes about practically (AI summary)
Literary authors frequently use the adverb "practically" to signal that a statement is almost, but not absolutely, the case. It serves to introduce a nuance of approximation, indicating that although something is not completely so, it is very nearly true. For instance, in historical discourse it suggests that an event was nearly inevitable or a result nearly finalized ([1]), while in discussions of grammar it highlights minimal distinctions between concepts ([2]). In narrative dialogue it conveys a sense of near certainty in recollection or assertion ([3]), and in technical descriptions it qualifies the precision of a condition, such as when a system is nearly unbreakable ([4]) or an area is largely isolated ([5]). This flexible term thus appears across a wide range of genres, acting as a linguistic bridge between totality and approximation.
- The result of the election for governor and lieutenant-governor was practically settled by the nomination of an anti-masonic independent ticket.
— from The Declaration of Independence of the United States of America by Thomas Jefferson - Except in certain kinds of subordinate clauses, the distinction between should and would is practically the same as that between shall and will .
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - “You practically told me once before, when you hired me,” Kennon said, “but I never realized it.”
— from The Lani People by Jesse F. Bone - There is thus practically no fluctuation in the pressure of the current generated.
— from How it Works by Archibald Williams - Memphis therefore was practically isolated from the balance of the command.
— from Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant, Complete by Ulysses S. Grant
