In Jane Austen’s chapter I, “fallen little short of a mother in affection”, she has a clue as it would be in Emma. It is well described.
She was the youngest of the daughters of a very affectionate father; would have, in consequence of sister’s marriage, been Mistress of his house from a very early peroid. Her mother had died too long ago for her to have more than an indistinct remembrance of her caresses; and her place had been supplied by an excellent woman as governess, who had fallen little short of a mother in affection; and therefore, had I brought her into so much sorrow, that she has failed to honour her feelings I suffreced of hearing her confessions in all honesty?
At the end of this paragraph, I am not sure about the meaning of “fallen little short of mother in affection”. The meaning of fall short (of) is being inadequate, but as I read some translation in my native language, it has been translated, as she being a very good mother herself. What is easiest way to see a sentence?
What are the best quotes and quotes that everyone should hear when it comes to sexual discrimination?
What is the meaning of fall short? What happens if you throw a ball and it falls under its target?
Is there any negative meaning to fall short of what in life you are expected to do?
In your quotation the expression is qualified by little. Austen means that the governess had fallen short of being a real mother so tiny that she had been almost as good as a real mother.
There’s no such thing but it doesn’t say “had fallen short”, but it does say it did. It says “had fallen little short”:
small in amount or number.
It’s a litotes.
