Lesson #287: Adjectives, Adverbs, And Intensifier Adverbs in Eliot’s ‘Middlemarch’

📗 But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

– George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871)

This is probably my favourite quote in all the English classics. 📚 They are the closing lines of Eliot’s Middlemarch, often described as ‘the masterpiece of English literature’. 🏆

They describe a young woman, Dorothea, who ends up living a very simple, family life after so many adventures described earlier in the novel.

The author writes that the final part of Dorothea’s life was not ‘widely visible’, and ‘spent itself [spent its energies] in channels [among people and in projects] which had no great name on the earth’.

Yet ‘the effect of her being [her existence, her life] on those around her was incalculably diffusive’ [had a wide influence beyond what can be calculated or counted]:

‘… for the growing good of the world is partly dependent [depends in part] on unhistoric acts [actions that aren’t important enough to be recorded in history]; and that things are not so ill [so bad] with you and me as they might have been, is half owing [is partly due] to the number [of people] who lived faithfully a hidden [quiet] life, and rest in unvisited tombs [graves that are forgotten or not visited].’

We might paraphrase it in simpler English as follows:

But the influence of her life and existence on the people around her was immeasurably widespread. This is because the growth of the world is partly due to people doing good things that never make it into history books. And the fact that things are not as bad today in my life and yours as they might have been is partly due to the number of people who lived faithfully such quiet lives and even now rest in peace in forgotten graves.

…

As I read this passage, I noticed how often George Eliot uses adjectives, adverbs, and even adverbs that modify adjectives (known as ‘intensifiers’ because they usually intensify the adjective’s meaning). 💡

What is the difference between these three categories of words?

And how does Eliot make use of them in this passage?

How can you use them in your own spoken or written English expression?

🧐

Let’s start with a quick recap.

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✍️ ADJECTIVES

Adjectives are words that describe nouns (words that can describe a person, place, or thing). ✏️

So the adjectives in this sentence are the words you see in italics:

📘 ‘For that great Love speaks in the most wretched and dirty hearts; only the tone of its voice depends on the echoes of the place in which it sounds.’

– George MacDonald, At the Back of the North Wind (1871, italics mine)

Now let’s find the adjectives in our study quote:

📗 But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

– George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871)

To find the adjectives in a sentence, ask yourself the following question:

👉 What noun does it describe?

• ‘diffusive’ describes ‘the effect of her being’
• ‘growing’ describes ‘the good [things] of this world’
• ‘dependent’ describes ‘the good [things] of this world’
• ‘unhistoric’ describes ‘acts’
• ‘ill’ describes the ‘things’ that happen in your life and mine
• ‘hidden’ describes ‘life’
• ‘unvisited’ describes ‘tombs’

…

✍️ ADVERBS

Adverbs are words that describe verbs (words that describe an action). ✏️

Thus [so], the adverbs in these sentences are the words you see in italics:

📒 ‘She generally gave herself very good advice, (though she very seldom followed it).’

― Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking-Glass, And What Alice Found There (1871, italics mine)

Let’s search for the adverbs here in Eliot’s lines:

📗 But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

– George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871)

There was only one in this passage! We know it is an adverb because it answers this question:

👉 What verb does it describe?

• ‘faithfully’ describes the verb form ‘lived’

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✍️ MODIFIER ADVERBS, OR ‘INTENSIFIERS’

An intensifier is an adverb that intensifies the meaning of an adjective that follows it. ✏️

📕 ‘Now this servant was not rich, nor wise, nor very good, but he wanted to help because the gardener had been very kind to him in many ways.’

– Louisa May Alcott, Little Men (1871)

Fun fact: 📚 These three books (At The Back Of The North Wind by George MacDonald, Through The Looking-Glass, And What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll, and Little Men by Louisa May Alcott) were also published in the same year as Eliot’s Middlemarch – 1871.

Let’s now search for the intensifiers in our Middlemarch quote.

📗 But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

– George Eliot, Middlemarch (1871)

👉 What adjective does each intensifier describe?

• ‘incalculably’ describes ‘diffusive’
• ‘partly’ describes ‘dependent’

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One last word of advice: pay attention to word order.

✏️ WORD ORDER – IMPORTANT TIPS

• Adjectives in English are usually placed before the noun that they describe.. However, in poetry, there may be occasions when they exchange positions, but this is not something you have to worry about right now.

For example: ‘The interesting movie’, ‘a delicious meal’, ‘sunny weather’.

• Adverbs in English are usually placed after the verb they describe.

For example: ‘He cycles quickly’, ‘she reads carefully’, ‘they are working hard’.

• Intensifier Adverbs are usually placed before the adjective they describe.

For example: ‘A very enjoyable holiday’, ‘an intensely hot season’, ‘quite similar’.

…

There they are – three categories of words carefully described and identified. 

Do you think you can now recognise them in other books or spoken contexts? 🤔

Perhaps it’s time for you to acquire a good English book of your own choice and begin searching …

Happy reading! 😊