When someone says: "For instance", what is that instance in question? Why is that everything comes down to it? How would you visualize an instance? What feelings does it bring up for you?
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11This seems to be a question about understanding the English language and should probably be migrated to English.SE. I don't see what it has to do with writing specifically.– BenCommented 17 hours ago
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1Maybe even English Language Learners, since I doubt any native speaker misunderstands this.– BarmarCommented 9 hours ago
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The basic meanings of 'instance' are easily found by looking the word up in say Merriam-Webster. 'For instance' will be followed by said instance, and is mentioned as an example of the general ideas discussed hitherto. One that perhaps springs to mind ... but the deeper issues mentioned are off-topic on ELU; psycholinguistics gets too deep almost immediately, and OP asks for subjective reactions.– Edwin AshworthCommented 46 mins ago
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2 Answers
An instance is a single time that something occurred. It can often be replaced by "For example...". In some circumstances by "One time this happened was ..." or perhaps "Like the 1896 election..." or something like that, but "instance" is shorter and general.
Not "everything comes down to it", an "instance" is an example of when something is true, not the only time it is ever true.
You visualize the "instance" by what is said after "for instance...".
It doesn't bring up any feelings by itself, just like "For example..." doesn't bring up any particular feeling -- it is just a form of introduction to an example.
One meaning of instance is "example". The Oxford English Dictionary defines instance as "a fact or example brought forward in support of a general assertion or an argument, or in illustration of a general truth."
So when someone says "for instance", what they mean is "for example" or "as an example".
You visualize an instance as a representative example of its category.
