“Does that worry you still, Maria?” my brother Leon said. “From the way you talk, he might be an ogre, for all the world. Except when his leg that was wounded in the Revolution is troubling him, Father is the mildest tempered, gentlest man I know.” (How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife, Manuel E. Arguilla)

“I hope you will not think of this as a great bother,” Julio continued, trying his best to phrase out his thoughts. He had a vague fear that Ka Ponso might not favorably regard his letter. (The Happiest Boy in the World, N.V.M. Gonzales)

In the town of Santa Rosa there once lived a couple named Hugo and Imelda. Every mealtime they quarreled over the chore of washing the dishes. Imelda would scold Hugo if he refuses to wash the dishes. (Why Women Wash the Dishes, Filomena Collendrino)

Miss Yeyeng was an overly made-up lady. People were saying, her parents were born in one corner of Pampanga in the smallest town there. Because of this, Miss Yeyeng who was Filipina from head to foot even to the ends of her hair, was Capampangan, too. (This Miss Phathuphats, Juan Crisostomo Soto)

Now, taking out that mat to spread had become a kind of ritual. The process had become associated with illness in the family. Illness, even serious illness had not been infrequent. There had been deaths. (The Mats, Francisco Arcellana)