Sentence No. 89 · 24 June 2026
Her simple view of life and its comforts, by which she had tried to cheer him, was only like a report of unknown objects, which his imagination could not fashion.
George Eliot, Silas Marner
George Eliot — Silas Marner (1861) · Read it at Project Gutenberg
What holds this sentence together
The subject of this sentence is "Her simple view of life and its comforts" — everything between that opening noun phrase and "was" is a parenthetical ("by which she had tried to cheer him"). When you spot "was" or another verb floating mid-sentence, scan back to find its subject phrase first.
How it appears in Sentle
On Sentle this sentence arrives in 8 pieces, shuffled, with the lines that lead up to it for context. A solitary weaver finds little comfort in a neighbour's gentle visit. 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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