Chapter 3 of An Experiment in Altruism is here in full — 89 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter III
Chapter 3 of An Experiment in Altruism is here in full — 89 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The Altruist was terribly in earnest. He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly. He lived in one of the city slums. The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work. I had heard much about him.
Chapter 3 of An Experiment in Altruism is here in full — 89 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/17 · 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.
without variation or change, in every case
From this reading “He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.”
characterized by a firm and humorless belief in the validity of your opinions
From this reading “The Altruist was terribly in earnest.”
past form of “lecture” — deliver a lecture or talk
From this reading “He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.”
past form of “preach” — deliver a sermon
From this reading “He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.”
plural of “slum” — a district of a city marked by poverty and inferior living conditions
From this reading “He lived in one of the city slums.”
relating to human society and its members
From this reading “He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.”
instrumentality that combines interrelated interacting artifacts designed to work as a coherent entity
From this reading “He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.”
used as intensifiers
From this reading “The Altruist was terribly in earnest.”
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.
the people in a society considered as a system organized by a characteristic pattern of relationships
In this reading “He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.”
In this reading “The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.”
move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
In this reading “The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.”
live in the house where one works
In this reading “He lived in one of the city slums.”
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.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
later than; following
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
(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 He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
someone who makes charitable donations intended to increase human well-being
From this reading The Altruist was terribly in earnest.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
accomplishment of an objective
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts
From this reading He lived in one of the city slums.
carefully weighed
From this reading He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
without variation or change, in every case
From this reading He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
characterized by a firm and humorless belief in the validity of your opinions
From this reading The Altruist was terribly in earnest.
the cardinal compass point that is at 90 degrees
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
either extremity of something that has length
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading I had heard much about him.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading I had heard much about him.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The Altruist was terribly in earnest.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
past form of “lecture” — deliver a lecture or talk
From this reading He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
past form of “live” — be an inhabitant of or reside in
From this reading He lived in one of the city slums.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
to a great degree or extent
From this reading I had heard much about him.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading He lived in one of the city slums.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading He lived in one of the city slums.
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
past form of “preach” — deliver a sermon
From this reading He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
plural of “slum” — a district of a city marked by poverty and inferior living conditions
From this reading He lived in one of the city slums.
relating to human society and its members
From this reading He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
instrumentality that combines interrelated interacting artifacts designed to work as a coherent entity
From this reading He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
used as intensifiers
From this reading The Altruist was terribly in earnest.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The Altruist was terribly in earnest.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The Altruist was terribly in earnest.
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
From this reading The morning after my arrival I went down to the East End to ask him about his work.
not correct; not in conformity with fact or truth
From this reading He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
inflected form of “write” — produce a literary work
From this reading He considered our social system all wrong, and he wrote and lectured and preached about it constantly.
Chapter 3 of An Experiment in Altruism by Margaret Pollock Sherwood holds 89 sentences, grouped into 18 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 3 holds 89 sentences of An Experiment in Altruism, unabridged, divided into 18 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 3 of An Experiment in Altruism by Margaret Pollock Sherwood exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 89 sentences, grouped into 18 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 18 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 18 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 3 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 An Experiment in Altruism by Margaret Pollock Sherwood on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2299 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #67432 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #67432, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 191 minutes of reading across 460 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through An Experiment in Altruism section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 39 chapters of An Experiment in Altruism 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 An Experiment in Altruism, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
