Chapter 2 of A Bold Stroke for a Husband is here in full — 484 sentences across 97 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter II
Chapter 2 of A Bold Stroke for a Husband is here in full — 484 sentences across 97 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
_Cæsar._ O, such perverse obedience! _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you. _Oliv._ No! I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk! _Vin._ Pretty little small talk!
Chapter 2 of A Bold Stroke for a Husband is here in full — 484 sentences across 97 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/96 · 5 reading units · Lines 1–5
These definitions explain words found in the current reading and keep every example grounded in its original sentence.
Oxford-style entry order: headword, part of speech, US IPA, concise definition, contextual example, and audio.
conforming to your own liking or feelings or nature
From this reading “I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!”
get the meaning of something
From this reading “_Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.”
a Spanish gentleman or nobleman
From this reading “_Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.”
a woman of refinement
From this reading “_Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.”
the act of obeying; dutiful or submissive behavior with respect to another person
From this reading “_Cæsar._ O, such perverse obedience!”
marked by a disposition to oppose and contradict
From this reading “_Cæsar._ O, such perverse obedience!”
Englishman and husband of Elizabeth II (born 1921)
From this reading “_Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.”
To perceive flavor through the mouth.
From this reading “I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!”
Every word in these five lines is listed here, and every one of them can be played on its own.
Dictionary details are shown only when verified; these are not licensed Oxford entries.
conforming to your own liking or feelings or nature
From this reading I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!
the form of “be” used with “I”
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!
get the meaning of something
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Cæsar._ O, such perverse obedience!
a Spanish gentleman or nobleman
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
an adequate quantity; a quantity that is large enough to achieve a purpose
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent (“whole” is often used informally for “wholly”)
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!
enjoying or showing or marked by joy or pleasure
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
the state of being honored
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
a woman of refinement
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
inflected form of “mean” — mean or intend to express or convey
From this reading I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!
not any; not one
From this reading _Oliv._ No!
and not; used after a negative to add a second negative
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
a nonmetallic bivalent element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless nonflammable diatomic gas; constitutes 21 percent of the atmosphere by volume; the most abundant element in the earth's crust
From this reading _Cæsar._ O, such perverse obedience!
the act of obeying; dutiful or submissive behavior with respect to another person
From this reading _Cæsar._ O, such perverse obedience!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Oliv._ No!
and nothing more
From this reading I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!
by chance
From this reading I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!
marked by a disposition to oppose and contradict
From this reading _Cæsar._ O, such perverse obedience!
Englishman and husband of Elizabeth II (born 1921)
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
pleasing by delicacy or grace; not imposing
From this reading I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!
in accordance with truth or fact or reality
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!
of the kind already mentioned
From this reading _Cæsar._ O, such perverse obedience!
exchange thoughts; talk with
From this reading I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!
To perceive flavor through the mouth.
From this reading I only meant to be agreeable--but, perhaps, you have no taste for pretty little small talk!
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading _Vin._ Really, madam, I have not the honour to know Don Philip and Lucinda--nor am I happy enough, entirely to comprehend you.
Chapter 2 of A Bold Stroke for a Husband by Hannah Cowley holds 484 sentences, grouped into 97 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the source edition, unabridged, and the chapter records which sentences cover which part of the work so that nothing is dropped. Every word can be tapped for its pronunciation and dictionary entry.
Chapter 2 holds 484 sentences of A Bold Stroke for a Husband, unabridged, divided into 97 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of A Bold Stroke for a Husband by Hannah Cowley exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 484 sentences, grouped into 97 sections of at most 5 sentences so that a reader can take the chapter in steady, finishable pieces. The chapter also stores a coverage record mapping every one of its sentences to a part of the work, which is how the edition demonstrates that no line was dropped.
Work through the 97 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 97 sections in this chapter is short enough to read once, hear once, and then re-read with the vocabulary in view. Tapping a word plays it alone and opens its dictionary entry with IPA, part of speech and meaning, so the reader is never forced to guess a pronunciation from spelling. Working section by section keeps a long chapter from becoming an undifferentiated wall of text, which is the usual reason a reader abandons a work of this period.
Yes — every sentence and every individual word in chapter 2 can be played aloud in United States English.
Audio covers the whole chapter: any sentence can be played, and any single word within it can be played on its own. The voice uses United States English. For a work of this period that matters, because spelling is an unreliable guide to pronunciation for vocabulary that has fallen out of daily use, and a learner who guesses wrong tends to keep the error. Hearing the word in its own sentence, and then alone, settles it.
Common questions about reading A Bold Stroke for a Husband by Hannah Cowley on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1422 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #47379 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #47379, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 118 minutes of reading across 285 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Bold Stroke for a Husband section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 3 chapters of A Bold Stroke for a Husband to begin.
Each section holds 5 sentences; read it once through.
Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in A Bold Stroke for a Husband, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
