Sentence No. 86 · 21 June 2026
My heart was deeply and most deservedly humbled as I mused over the fire for an hour or more
Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
Charles Dickens — Great Expectations (1861) · Read it at Project Gutenberg
What holds this sentence together
The word "as" here is a subordinating conjunction meaning "while," linking the main clause to the action happening simultaneously. When you see "as" mid-sentence, it always belongs with the time-based phrase that follows it, never at the front.
How it appears in Sentle
On Sentle this sentence arrives in 7 pieces, shuffled, with the lines that lead up to it for context. A reflective traveller broods on gratitude and an unworthy benefactor. 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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