Close reading. In literary criticism, close reading is the careful, sustained interpretation of a brief passage of a text. A close reading emphasizes the single and the particular over the general, effected by close attention to individual words, the syntax, and the order in which the sentences unfold ideas, as the reader scans the line of text. In contemporary English practice, the technique of close reading was pioneered by I. A. Richards and his student William Empson; close reading then was technically dev
Jackson Andrew Jackson lost to John Q. Adams before winning a presidency He lost (in the House of Representatives) in 1824 but won in 1828 Previously, Thomas Jefferson had lost in 1796 and won in 1800. Subsequently, William Henry Harrison lost in 1836 but won in 1840, and Richard Nixon lost in 1960 but won in 1968.
Five presidents took office without winning the popular vote. In other words, they did not receive a plurality in terms of the popular vote. They were elected, instead, by the electoral college or in the case of John Quincy Adams by the House of Representatives after a tie in the electoral votes. George W. Bush who lost by 543,816 votes to Al Gore in the 2000 election.