Literary notes about usual (AI summary)
In literature, the word "usual" functions as a marker of the habitual or customary, establishing a baseline against which deviations or expected behaviors are measured. Authors use it to describe characters acting in their typical manner—as seen when Mr. Nickleby speaks in his "usual blunt fashion" ([1]), or when a maid is noted as being the “usual maid” serving tea ([2]). It also characterizes scenes or routines, such as the expected appearance of clouds in the sky ([3]) or the conventional form of a tale or reading ([4], [5]). In other instances, "usual" serves to emphasize a contrast—highlighting, for example, a face being "a shade redder than usual" ([6])—thereby deepening our understanding of a character's state or a situation's normalcy. Overall, "usual" subtly reinforces narrative rhythm by anchoring the reader in the world of recurring patterns and established behaviors.
- ‘You mistake my purpose, I see, ma’am,’ replied Mr. Nickleby, in his usual blunt fashion.
— from Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens - When later, by the schoolroom fire, I was served with tea by the usual maid, I indulged, on the article of my other pupil, in no inquiry whatever.
— from The Turn of the Screw by Henry James - Towards night, a few clouds appeared in the horizon, and as the gale moderated, the usual appearance of driving clouds relieved the face of the sky.
— from Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana - The usual reading is μαχομένους.
— from The Anabasis of Alexander by Arrian - The opening formula I have taken from Mayhew, London Labour , iii. 390, who gives it as the usual one when tramps tell folk-tales.
— from English Fairy Tales - Mr. Poyser had just entered in shirt-sleeves and open waistcoat, with a face a shade redder than usual, from the exertion of “pitching.”
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot
