Alternate, archaic meanings of "such as"



such as {prepositional phrase} = 1. For example
2. Of a kind that; like
3. (archaic) Those who



I tolerate and so ask NOT about 1 above. Despite this dated 2014 Nov 30 and this dated 2013 Oct 23, I still can't relate definitions 2 and 3 above to 1? Please explain how? What are some intuitive derivations of 2 and 3 that help to remember their meaning? I heed the Etymological Fallacy.



Answer



2. "Such as" meaning "Of a kind that; like": for example



I have no other information than such as is presented to me in this letter.



In this instance, the implication is something like



I have no other information than [information of] such [a kind] as [i.e. "that" or "which"] is presented to me in this letter.



3. "Such as" meaning "Those who": for example



Such as read this letter will learn of its contents.



The meaning here is to be derived from expanding the sentence in more or less this way:



[Those people of] such [a kind] as [again, sc. "that" or better "who"] read this letter will learn of its contents.



In other words, in both cases the "such" is acting as a nominal, more like a noun than like an adjective, and refers either to a previous noun (as in the first sentence, where it refers to "information") or to an implied noun (as in the second sentence, where the noun "people" can be inferred from the verbs "read" and "learn").


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