Sentence No. 12 · 8 April 2026
The real evils, indeed, of Emma’s situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself; these were the disadvantages which threatened alloy to her many enjoyments.
Jane Austen, Emma
Jane Austen — Emma (1815) · Read it at Project Gutenberg
What holds this sentence together
The subject "The real evils, indeed, of Emma’s situation" is interrupted by the aside "indeed" before it reaches the verb "were." When you see a short aside like that flanked by commas mid-phrase, it belongs inside the subject, not at the start or end of the sentence.
How it appears in Sentle
On Sentle this sentence arrives in 8 pieces, shuffled, with the lines that lead up to it for context. The novel opens with a description of its heroine — and its quiet warning. Putting it back in the author’s order is the puzzle — and the order is rarely arbitrary, which is what the note above is about.
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