Chapter I of A Life for a Life, Volume 2 (of 3), “His Story,” is here in full — 309 sentences across 62 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter I of A Life for a Life, Volume 2 (of 3), “His Story,” is here in full — 309 sentences across 62 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
|I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.” It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution. Pride! What have I to do with pride? And resolutions, forsooth!
Chapter I of A Life for a Life, Volume 2 (of 3), “His Story,” is here in full — 309 sentences across 62 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/61 · 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.
made or become different in nature or form
From this reading “It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.”
having come or been brought to a conclusion
From this reading “|I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.””
one side of one leaf (of a book or magazine or newspaper or letter etc.) or the written or pictorial matter it contains
From this reading “|I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.””
a feeling of self-respect and personal worth
From this reading “It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.”
make a promise or commitment
From this reading “It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.”
a formal expression by a meeting; agreed to by a vote
From this reading “It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.”
plural of “resolution” — a formal expression by a meeting; agreed to by a vote
From this reading “And resolutions, forsooth!”
produce a literary work
From this reading “|I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.””
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 “What have I to do with pride?”
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 It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading And resolutions, forsooth!
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
physically and forcibly separated into pieces or cracked or split
From this reading It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
made or become different in nature or form
From this reading It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading What have I to do with pride?
having come or been brought to a conclusion
From this reading |I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.”
an archaic word originally meaning “in truth” but now usually used to express disbelief
From this reading And resolutions, forsooth!
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading |I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.”
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading |I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.”
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
immediately past
From this reading |I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.”
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading |I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.”
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
not any; not one
From this reading |I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.”
and not; used after a negative to add a second negative
From this reading It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
one side of one leaf (of a book or magazine or newspaper or letter etc.) or the written or pictorial matter it contains
From this reading |I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.”
a feeling of self-respect and personal worth
From this reading It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
make a promise or commitment
From this reading It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
a formal expression by a meeting; agreed to by a vote
From this reading It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
plural of “resolution” — a formal expression by a meeting; agreed to by a vote
From this reading And resolutions, forsooth!
used with I and we for the future, or to offer and suggest
From this reading |I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.”
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading |I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.”
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
employed in accomplishing something
From this reading It used to be my pride never to have broken a promise nor changed a resolution.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading What have I to do with pride?
in the company of; together with
From this reading |I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.”
produce a literary work
From this reading |I ended the last page with “I shall write no more here.”
Chapter 1 of A Life for a Life, Volume 2 (of 3) by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik holds 309 sentences, grouped into 62 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 1 holds 309 sentences of A Life for a Life, Volume 2 (of 3), unabridged, divided into 62 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of A Life for a Life, Volume 2 (of 3) by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 309 sentences, grouped into 62 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 62 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 62 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 1 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 Life for a Life, Volume 2 (of 3) by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2804 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #48482 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #48482, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 233 minutes of reading across 561 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Life for a Life, Volume 2 (of 3) section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 12 chapters of A Life for a Life, Volume 2 (of 3) 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 Life for a Life, Volume 2 (of 3), each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
