Fateme Mahdavi
Please help me in this sentence! "all" refers to what? and what does "too"mean? it means extreme? Far away in the west the sun was setting and the last glow of all too fleeting day lingered lovingly on sea and strand, on the proud promontory of dear old Howth guarding as ever the waters of the bay, on the weedgrown rocks along Sandymount shore and, last but not least, on the quiet church whence there streamed forth at times upon the stillness the voice of prayer to her who is in her pure radiance a beacon ever to the stormtossed heart of man, Mary, star of the sea.
Nov 4, 2017 10:08 PM
Answers · 7
2
Far away in the west the sun was setting and the last glow of all too fleeting day = Far away in the west the sun was setting and the last glow of the VERY fleeting day / of the VERY QUICKLY PASSING day ALL TOO functions here as an adverb, modifying fleeting, and ALL TOO = VERY but "all too" does sound much better here than "very". In addition, "all too" has a connotation of remorse, as if the author regrets that this day had to end so soon.
November 5, 2017
1
(Sorry, I pushed the wrong button, and meant this as a comment. James' answer is great, and hopefully clarifies it for you. But...) Are you sure you copied it correctly? It looks to me like there should be another 'the' before 'all' - e.g. 'glow of the all too fleeting'.
November 5, 2017
Thank You!
November 5, 2017
In this case, "all" is more like "completely" in meaning, and "too" makes a large amount negative, so "all too" means it is completely and unfortunately fleeting.
November 4, 2017
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