Chapter 2 of A Book of Nimble Beasts is here in full — 445 sentences across 89 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter II
Chapter 2 of A Book of Nimble Beasts is here in full — 445 sentences across 89 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise. She swam a yard and dived. The water closed like oil upon her going. Ten seconds passed and then she reappeared. "He's coming, Natterjack," she said, and landed close beside him.
Chapter 2 of A Book of Nimble Beasts is here in full — 445 sentences across 89 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/89 · 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.
past form of “climb” — go upward with gradual or continuous progress
From this reading “She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.”
past form of “dive” — drop steeply
From this reading “She swam a yard and dived.”
owning or consisting of land or real estate
From this reading “"He's coming, Natterjack," she said, and landed close beside him.”
a projecting ridge on a mountain or submerged under water
From this reading “She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.”
A viscous liquid derived from petroleum or plants, stored in large earthen jars.
From this reading “The water closed like oil upon her going.”
past form of “reappear” — appear again
From this reading “Ten seconds passed and then she reappeared.”
plural of “second” — 1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
From this reading “Ten seconds passed and then she reappeared.”
inflected form of “swim” — travel through water
From this reading “She swam a yard and dived.”
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 “She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.”
In this reading “Ten seconds passed and then she reappeared.”
In this reading “She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.”
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.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
next to; at the side of
From this reading "He's coming, Natterjack," she said, and landed close beside him.
past form of “climb” — go upward with gradual or continuous progress
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other
From this reading "He's coming, Natterjack," she said, and landed close beside him.
not open or affording passage or access
From this reading The water closed like oil upon her going.
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading "He's coming, Natterjack," she said, and landed close beside him.
past form of “dive” — drop steeply
From this reading She swam a yard and dived.
United States actor (born in Ireland); father of Georgiana Emma Barrymore (1827-1862)
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
plural of “foot” — the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
the cardinal number that is the sum of three and one
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
the act of departing
From this reading The water closed like oil upon her going.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "He's coming, Natterjack," she said, and landed close beside him.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading The water closed like oil upon her going.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading "He's coming, Natterjack," she said, and landed close beside him.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
owning or consisting of land or real estate
From this reading "He's coming, Natterjack," she said, and landed close beside him.
a projecting ridge on a mountain or submerged under water
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading The water closed like oil upon her going.
common brownish-yellow short-legged toad of western Europe; runs rather than hops
From this reading "He's coming, Natterjack," she said, and landed close beside him.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
A viscous liquid derived from petroleum or plants, stored in large earthen jars.
From this reading The water closed like oil upon her going.
past form of “pass” — go across or through
From this reading Ten seconds passed and then she reappeared.
past form of “reappear” — appear again
From this reading Ten seconds passed and then she reappeared.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading "He's coming, Natterjack," she said, and landed close beside him.
plural of “second” — 1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
From this reading Ten seconds passed and then she reappeared.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
inflected form of “swim” — travel through water
From this reading She swam a yard and dived.
the cardinal number that is the sum of nine and one; the base of the decimal system
From this reading Ten seconds passed and then she reappeared.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The water closed like oil upon her going.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Ten seconds passed and then she reappeared.
in contact with each other or in proximity
From this reading She climbed a ledge, drew all four feet together, and slithered off it eel-wise.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading The water closed like oil upon her going.
binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent
From this reading The water closed like oil upon her going.
a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride
From this reading She swam a yard and dived.
Chapter 2 of A Book of Nimble Beasts by Douglas English holds 445 sentences, grouped into 89 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 445 sentences of A Book of Nimble Beasts, unabridged, divided into 89 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of A Book of Nimble Beasts by Douglas English exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 445 sentences, grouped into 89 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 89 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 89 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 Book of Nimble Beasts by Douglas English on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2155 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #55097 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #55097, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 179 minutes of reading across 431 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Book of Nimble Beasts section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 5 chapters of A Book of Nimble Beasts 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 Book of Nimble Beasts, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
