Chapter 1 of A Personal Problem is here in full — 200 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of A Personal Problem is here in full — 200 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day. You were surprised to find me here, eh?” “So-so.” The fat man wiped his face and poured another drink. “You’re a damned ironic brute, Cranshaw!
Chapter 1 of A Personal Problem is here in full — 200 sentences across 40 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/40 · 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.
the largest city and principal port of New Zealand
From this reading “A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.”
a large bundle bound for storage or transport
From this reading “A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.”
possessive form of “commissioner” — a government administrator
expletives used informally as intensifiers
From this reading ““You’re a damned ironic brute, Cranshaw!”
humorously sarcastic or mocking
From this reading ““You’re a damned ironic brute, Cranshaw!”
possessive form of “island” — a land mass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water
being neither good nor bad
From this reading ““So-so.””
past form of “wipe” — rub with a circular motion
From this reading “The fat man wiped his face and poured another drink.”
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 “The fat man wiped his face and poured another drink.”
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 A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
(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 A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
at all times; all the time and on every occasion
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The fat man wiped his face and poured another drink.
one more of the same kind, or a different one
From this reading The fat man wiped his face and poured another drink.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
the largest city and principal port of New Zealand
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
a large bundle bound for storage or transport
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
a cruelly rapacious person
From this reading “You’re a damned ironic brute, Cranshaw!
showing who or what does the action
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
possessive form of “commissioner” — a government administrator
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “You’re a damned ironic brute, Cranshaw!
expletives used informally as intensifiers
From this reading “You’re a damned ironic brute, Cranshaw!
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
take in liquids
From this reading The fat man wiped his face and poured another drink.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading You were surprised to find me here, eh?”
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading The fat man wiped his face and poured another drink.
having an (over)abundance of flesh
From this reading The fat man wiped his face and poured another drink.
come upon, as if by accident; meet with
From this reading You were surprised to find me here, eh?”
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
plural of “get” — a return on a shot that seemed impossible to reach and would normally have resulted in a point for the opponent
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
a nonmetallic univalent element that is normally a colorless and odorless highly flammable diatomic gas; the simplest and lightest and most abundant element in the universe
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading You were surprised to find me here, eh?”
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The fat man wiped his face and poured another drink.
water frozen in the solid state
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
humorously sarcastic or mocking
From this reading “You’re a damned ironic brute, Cranshaw!
possessive form of “island” — a land mass (smaller than a continent) that is surrounded by water
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading The fat man wiped his face and poured another drink.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading You were surprised to find me here, eh?”
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
concerning or affecting a particular person or his or her private life and personality
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
past form of “pour” — cause to run
From this reading The fat man wiped his face and poured another drink.
a state of difficulty that needs to be resolved
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
being neither good nor bad
From this reading “So-so.”
a clam that is usually steamed in the shell
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
taken unawares or suddenly and feeling wonder or astonishment
From this reading You were surprised to find me here, eh?”
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading You were surprised to find me here, eh?”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading A Personal Problem By H. Bedford-Jones “All the island’s up at the commissioner’s to-night—he always gets a bale of ice up from Auckland on steamer day.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading You were surprised to find me here, eh?”
past form of “wipe” — rub with a circular motion
From this reading The fat man wiped his face and poured another drink.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading You were surprised to find me here, eh?”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “You’re a damned ironic brute, Cranshaw!
Chapter 1 of A Personal Problem by H. (Henry) Bedford-Jones holds 200 sentences, grouped into 40 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 200 sentences of A Personal Problem, unabridged, divided into 40 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of A Personal Problem by H. (Henry) Bedford-Jones exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 200 sentences, grouped into 40 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 40 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 40 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 Personal Problem by H. (Henry) Bedford-Jones on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 200 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #67365 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #67365, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 16 minutes of reading across 40 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Personal Problem section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of A Personal Problem 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 Personal Problem, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
