Literary notes about sometimes (AI summary)
The adverb "sometimes" serves as a literary tool to indicate occasions that are not constant but occur intermittently, adding nuance and texture to narrative and descriptive passages. In Shaw’s "Pygmalion" ([1]), it casually marks a spatial or temporal detail, while in the King James Bible ([2]) it qualifies the wear on objects, underscoring an irregular process. Authors like William James ([3]) and Dickens ([4], [5]) use "sometimes" to sketch the unpredictable habits of characters, suggesting moments of lapse or spontaneity. In poetic lines such as those in Lucretius ([6]) or Shakespearean verse ([7]), this adverb contributes to rhythmic variation and contrast. Whether employed to articulate natural variations, to moderate assertions in scientific or grammatical discussions ([8], [9]), or to highlight the ephemeral nature of thoughts and actions ([10], [11]), "sometimes" enriches a text by signaling that the described phenomena are occasional yet significant, thereby inviting readers to appreciate the subtleties of human behavior and natural processes.
- Sometimes within two streets.
— from Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw - The edges also of most of them are worn, sometimes by having been used as tools, or sometimes by having been rolled in the old river’s bed.
— from The King James Version of the Bible - And it is reported of Newton that, while engaged in his mathematical researches, he sometimes forgot to dine.
— from The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1 (of 2) by William James - She kept me there all day, and left me alone sometimes; and I cried, and wore myself to sleep, and awoke and cried again.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - ,’ said I, ‘we must be serious sometimes.
— from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - A part, Beating on solid porticoes, tossed back Returns a sound; and sometimes mocks the ear With a mere phantom of a word.
— from On the Nature of Things by Titus Lucretius Carus - Sometimes am I king; Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar,
— from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - An adverb is sometimes used with the meaning of an adjective: as, reliquīs deincēps diēbus , 3, 29, 1, the remaining successive days .
— from A Latin Grammar for Schools and Colleges by George Martin Lane - The simple predicate is reaches , which is modified by the adverb sometimes and completed by the direct object latitudes .
— from An Advanced English Grammar with Exercises by Frank Edgar Farley and George Lyman Kittredge - Rosalie would sometimes show her lover’s epistles to me, to convince me what a kind, devoted husband he would make.
— from Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë - "I should have thought sometimes you couldn't help thinking of the past.
— from The Moon and Sixpence by W. Somerset Maugham
