Emma: Prose style
17 lenses on prose style for Emma by Jane Austen. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: H1 H2 H3 H4 H5 H6 H7 H8 H9 H10 H11 H12 H13 H14 H15 H16 H17
H1. Readability score per chapter. Count
Flesch reading ease for the whole book is about 67 (higher is easier; 60 to 70 is plain English).
Reading ease per chapter, chapter by chapter
H2. Vocabulary range. Count
7,204 different words. On average 49 in every 100 words are new within a 500 word stretch. 2,813 words appear only once.
H3. Signature words: what this author uses far more than others. Count
emma, fairfax, jane, frank, harriet. See the full lens on the book page.
H4. Adverb and adjective rates. Count
About 15.28 words ending in 'ly' and 8.99 likely adjectives per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
'ly' words per 1,000, chapter by chapter
H5. Share of weak verbs such as "was" and "had". Count
'Was', 'were', 'had', 'is' and 'are' make up 3.9% of all words.
H6. Passive voice rate. Count
About 8.3% of sentences use a passive form such as 'was taken'. (rough estimate from word lists)
H7. Variety of sentence openings. Count
The five most common first words start 28% of sentences: i, she, he, weston, it.
| First word | Sentences |
|---|---|
| i | 898 |
| she | 487 |
| he | 390 |
| weston | 376 |
| it | 345 |
| elton | 316 |
| the | 304 |
| knightley | 278 |
| you | 258 |
| but | 232 |
H8. Rhythm: how much sentence length varies. Count
Sentence length varies by 0.92 of its mean on average (higher means a more varied rhythm).
Variation per chapter, chapter by chapter
H9. Similes and metaphors: how many, and of what kind. Both
184 likely similes ('like a', 'as ... as'): 1.14 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Ch 1, para 10: Highbury, the large and populous village, almost amounting to a town, to which Hartfield, in spite of its separate lawn, and shrubberies, and name, did really belong, afforded …
Ch 3, para 4: Mrs. Bates, the widow of a former vicar of Highbury, was a very old lady, almost past every thing but tea and quadrille. She lived with her single …
Ch 3, para 6: These were the ladies whom Emma found herself very frequently able to collect; and happy was she, for her father’s sake, in the power; though, as far as …
Ch 4, para 4: Mrs. Goddard, and the teachers, and the girls and the affairs of the school in general, formed naturally a great part of the conversation—and but for her acquaintance …
Ch 4, para 10: “Oh yes!—that is, no—I do not know—but I believe he has read a good deal—but not what you would think any thing of. He reads the Agricultural Reports, …
Ch 4, para 20: “Well, and that is as early as most men can afford to marry, who are not born to an independence. Mr. Martin, I imagine, has his fortune entirely …
Austen uses similes sparingly but pointedly: Emma's playing is 'no more like' Jane's 'than a lamp is like sunshine' (c27); Harriet's heart is compared to soft blue eyes wasted on inferior society (c3). Metaphors dominate: matchmaking as craft, blindness as self-deception, social climbing as rising into gentility. The pianoforte becomes a metaphor for hidden truth.
Chapters: Ch 3, Ch 27, Ch 28, Ch 46
Don’t class us together, Harriet. My playing is no more like her’s, than a lamp is like sunshine. (Ch 27, para 6)
Those soft blue eyes, and all those natural graces, should not be wasted on the inferior society of Highbury and its connexions. The acquaintance she had already formed were unworthy of her. (Ch 3, para 10)
At this moment, an ingenious and animating suspicion entering Emma’s brain with regard to Jane Fairfax, this charming Mr. Dixon, and the not going to Ireland (Ch 19, para 21)
H10. Senses used: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Both
Share of sense words. sight 52%, sound 25%, touch 18%, taste 5%, smell 0%. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Sense | Words |
|---|---|
| sight | 728 |
| sound | 349 |
| touch | 257 |
| taste | 70 |
| smell | 2 |
Sight dominates: Emma 'watches' Knightley constantly, observes Frank's behaviour, reads faces for feeling. Sound appears in music and dialogue. Touch is rare but charged: Knightley's hand-taking at proposal (c49). Smell and taste are nearly absent, befitting a novel of social manners over sensory experience.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 27, Ch 28, Ch 38, Ch 49
I love to look at her; and I will add this praise, that I do not think her personally vain. Considering how very handsome she is, she appears to be little occupied with it; her vanity lies another way. (Ch 5, para 21)
Don’t class us together, Harriet. My playing is no more like her’s, than a lamp is like sunshine. (Ch 27, para 6)
How is your niece, Miss Bates?—I want to inquire after you all, but particularly your niece. How is Miss Fairfax?—I hope she caught no cold last night. (Ch 28, para 35)
H11. Repetition, lists of three and other patterns. Both
105 lists of three in the pattern 'a, b and c': 0.65 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Lists of three abound: Emma's blessings (handsome, clever, rich); Harriet's suitors (Elton, Knightley, Martin); the three couples who marry. Repetition of key phrases, 'self-deception,' 'blindness,' 'superior', drives theme home. Parallel scenes (portrait painting, pianoforte mystery, ball) echo and vary.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 6, Ch 26, Ch 29, Ch 54, Ch 55
Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence (Ch 1, para 1)
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 (Ch 1, para 4)
there is a likeness in our destiny; the destiny which bids fair to connect us with two characters so much superior to our own (Ch 54, para 69)
H12. Old words that may trip modern readers. Count
Old forms that may trip a modern reader: shew, connexion, nay, thither, hither, thy.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| shew | 28 |
| connexion | 20 |
| nay | 12 |
| thither | 4 |
| hither | 3 |
| thy | 2 |
| whence | 2 |
| art | 2 |
| doth | 1 |
| thou | 1 |
H13. Showing against telling, with examples. AI
Austen shows character through action and dialogue rather than summary. Emma's cruelty to Miss Bates at Box Hill (c43) is shown in the moment, not told. Her self-deception is revealed through her own reasoning, not narrator judgment. Yet the opening tells us Emma's flaw directly (c1), then shows it repeatedly.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 16, Ch 43, Ch 47
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 (Ch 1, para 4)
If I had not persuaded Harriet into liking the man, I could have borne any thing. (Ch 16, para 2)
How could you be so unfeeling to Miss Bates? How could you be so insolent in your wit to a woman of her character, age, and situation? (Ch 43, para 56)
H14. How much description comes before action. Both
Description is minimal and woven into action. Hartfield, Randalls, and Box Hill are sketched briefly as scenes unfold. The narrator provides historical summary (Weston's rise, Jane's orphaning) before action resumes. Austen favours dialogue and thought over landscape or interior detail.
Chapters: Ch 2, Ch 20, Ch 24, Ch 29
Mr. Weston was a native of Highbury, and born of a respectable family, which for the last two or three generations had been rising into gentility and property. (Ch 2, para 1)
Jane Fairfax was an orphan, the only child of Mrs. Bates’s youngest daughter. (Ch 20, para 1)
Jane Fairfax was very elegant, remarkably elegant; and she had herself the highest value for elegance. (Ch 20, para 12)
H15. Filter words such as "saw", "felt", "heard". Count
Filter words ('saw', 'felt', 'heard' and so on): 5.05 per 1,000 words.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| thought | 226 |
| seemed | 141 |
| heard | 120 |
| felt | 114 |
| saw | 108 |
| knew | 88 |
| watched | 8 |
| wondered | 4 |
| realised | 2 |
| noticed | 1 |
H16. Shifts in tone. AI
Tone shifts from ironic distance (opening) to intimate sympathy (Emma's anguish at c43 to 48) to comic relief (Mrs. Elton's vulgarity). The Box Hill scene darkens sharply; the proposal (c49) lifts into joy. Final chapters settle into warm contentment. Austen modulates between mockery and genuine feeling.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 21, Ch 43, Ch 49, Ch 55
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 (Ch 1, para 4)
She did not really like her. She would not be in a hurry to find fault, but she suspected that there was no elegance (Ch 32, para 4)
How could you be so unfeeling to Miss Bates? How could you be so insolent in your wit to a woman of her character, age, and situation? (Ch 43, para 56)
H17. How the comedy works. AI
Comedy works through irony: Emma's certainty about others proves wrong repeatedly. Mrs. Elton's constant name-dropping of Maple Grove is absurd. Frank's hair-cutting trip (c25) is foppish. Misunderstandings (Elton's charade, the pianoforte) create comic confusion. Austen's dry narrator voice undercuts pretension throughout.
Chapters: Ch 9, Ch 21, Ch 25, Ch 26, Ch 32, Ch 33
Very well, Mr. Elton, very well indeed. I have read worse charades. Courtship—a very good hint. (Ch 9, para 22)
There was certainly no harm in his travelling sixteen miles twice over on such an errand; but there was an air of foppery and nonsense in it which she could not approve. (Ch 25, para 1)
Hum! just the trifling, silly fellow I took him for. (Ch 25, para 4)
Ask Emma a question about its craft (free beta)
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