Sentence No. 56 · 22 May 2026
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen — Pride and Prejudice (1813) · Read it at Project Gutenberg
What holds this sentence together
The phrase "in possession of a good fortune" is a prepositional modifier wedged inside the subject — it can't open or close the sentence. When you spot a phrase beginning with "in possession," place it immediately after the noun it describes.
How it appears in Sentle
On Sentle this sentence arrives in 5 pieces, shuffled, with the lines that lead up to it for context. The novel opens with one of the most famous sentences in the English language. 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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