You can edit / change the code and click run button <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <title>addBack demo</title> <style> p, div { margin: 5px; padding: 5px; } .border { border: 2px solid red; } .background { background: green; } .left, .right { width: 45%; float: left; } .right { margin-left: 3%; } </style> <script src="../../../jquery-1.10.2.js"></script> <script>var clicky_site_ids = clicky_site_ids || []; clicky_site_ids.push(101319977);</script><script async src="//static.getclicky.com/js"></script> <div class="left"> <p><strong>Before <code>addBack()</code></strong></p> <div class="before-addback"> <p>First Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p> </div> </div> <div class="right"> <p><strong>After <code>addBack()</code></strong></p> <div class="after-addback"> <p>First Paragraph</p> <p>Second Paragraph</p> </div> </div> <script> $( "div.left, div.right" ).find( "div, div > p" ).addClass( "border" ); // First Example $( "div.before-addback" ).find( "p" ).addClass( "background" ); // Second Example $( "div.after-addback" ).find( "p" ).addBack().addClass( "background" ); </script>