21.   I never thought he was capable of doing such a mean thing to his brother.

22.   I think she and Phil were the nearest thing to soccer hooligans that canoeing can produce.

23.   If Charlie had been there, I would never had said such horrible things to him.

24.   If one can notice the absence of something one must already know what it is for things to be absent.

25.   In this sense many of the international firms will try to be all things to all people.

26.   It is all things to all men ... and this is perhaps its number one axiom.

27.   It is the next best thing to crossing the deserts of the world oneself.

28.   It seemed to her to be the nearest thing to rough justice that would ever present itself.