The conditions that surround behavior-what people say and do that are recognized or punished over time (the culture) -also help to support sustained patterns or diminish such patterns of success.

Yet the care and control of Swan's writing, the sustained patterns of her imagery and the sheer beauty of her prose clarify everything that is essential to the story while preserving its central mystery.

And its airily sustained chordal patterns and glistening passage work gave an impression of internal stillness, not of restless motion.

When I look at the history of Pakistan, I see a sustained pattern of cooperative arrangement between the elite/feudal class and the army to suppress the poor.

The French intervention came despite a sustained pattern of human rights abuse by Rwandan Government forces, including the murders of as many as several thousand Tutsi civilians from 1990 to 1993.

In 1982, a Miami office was opened, marking the beginning of the firm's current sustained pattern of expansion.

Grosser examples of the effect have been noted in literature ever since people started analyzing double plots and noticing echoing situations and spotting thematic common denominators and sustained patterns of imagery.

The economy contracted slightly in the first quarter of 1993 before returning to a sustained pattern of healthy growth.

"I think we're into a sustained pattern of growth," said Andrew A. Beveridge, a professor of sociology at Queens College.

The sustained rhythmic pattern, with its familiar entrances and exits, its decorum and history, was seen as a sort of cruel imposition on individual will.