Literary notes about such (AI summary)
The word “such” in literature functions as a versatile intensifier and specifying determiner, enhancing both the descriptive quality and the degree of abstraction in a phrase. For instance, it is used to magnify aesthetic or emotional attributes, as in [1] where “such a beautiful farewell speech” immediately establishes the speech’s poignant character, or in [2], where “such a deadly evil” emphasizes the enormity of malevolence. In other contexts, “such” serves to classify or single out particular instances or types, whether referring to concrete objects—as seen in [3] with “such a siren”—or abstract circumstances like those in [4], where it qualifies a profusion during times of difficulty. Across these diverse examples, “such” underlines the characteristics being described, lending a sharper focus or contrast in the narrative.
- Mr. Phillips made such a beautiful farewell speech beginning, ‘The time has come for us to part.’
— from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery - I was a fool to think I could make anything good out of such a deadly evil.
— from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe - I unlaced her corset, and in the twinkling of an eye I had before me such a siren as one sees on the canvas of Correggio.
— from The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798. Complete by Giacomo Casanova - But there must surely be something more than ordinary absurdity in continuing such profusion in times of general difficulty and distress.
— from An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
