Chapter 1 of An Old-Fashioned Girl is here in full — 204 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of An Old-Fashioned Girl is here in full — 204 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“IT'S time to go to the station, Tom.” “Come on, then.” “Oh, I'm not going; it's too wet. Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.” “You don't expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do you?”
Chapter 1 of An Old-Fashioned Girl is here in full — 204 sentences across 41 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.
take something or somebody with oneself somewhere
From this reading ““You don't expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do you?””
plural of “come” — the thick white fluid containing spermatozoa that is ejaculated by the male genital tract
From this reading “Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.””
an angular or rounded shape made by folding
From this reading “Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.””
regard something as probable or likely
From this reading ““You don't expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do you?””
pleasant or pleasing or agreeable in nature or appearance
From this reading “Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.””
a facility equipped with special equipment and personnel for a particular purpose
From this reading ““IT'S time to go to the station, Tom.””
male cat
From this reading ““IT'S time to go to the station, Tom.””
covered or soaked with a liquid such as water
From this reading ““Oh, I'm not going; it's too wet.”
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 Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
Having no one else present.
From this reading “You don't expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do you?”
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
take something or somebody with oneself somewhere
From this reading “You don't expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do you?”
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading “Come on, then.”
plural of “come” — the thick white fluid containing spermatozoa that is ejaculated by the male genital tract
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
an angular or rounded shape made by folding
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading “You don't expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do you?”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “You don't expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do you?”
regard something as probable or likely
From this reading “You don't expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do you?”
a young female
From this reading “You don't expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do you?”
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading “IT'S time to go to the station, Tom.”
the act of departing
From this reading “Oh, I'm not going; it's too wet.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
where you live at a particular time
From this reading “You don't expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do you?”
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Oh, I'm not going; it's too wet.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “IT'S time to go to the station, Tom.”
location near or direction toward the left side; i.e. the side to the north when a person or object faces east
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading “You don't expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do you?”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
pleasant or pleasing or agreeable in nature or appearance
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading “Oh, I'm not going; it's too wet.
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading “Oh, I'm not going; it's too wet.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading “Come on, then.”
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
used to say what is right, expected, or advisable
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
a facility equipped with special equipment and personnel for a particular purpose
From this reading “IT'S time to go to the station, Tom.”
being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird
From this reading “You don't expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do you?”
of the kind already mentioned
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading “IT'S time to go to the station, Tom.”
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading “Come on, then.”
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading “IT'S time to go to the station, Tom.”
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “IT'S time to go to the station, Tom.”
male cat
From this reading “IT'S time to go to the station, Tom.”
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
From this reading “Oh, I'm not going; it's too wet.
feel or have a desire for; want strongly
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
covered or soaked with a liquid such as water
From this reading “Oh, I'm not going; it's too wet.
at the time that
From this reading Should n't have a crimp left if I went out such a day as this; and I want to look nice when Polly comes.”
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “You don't expect me to go and bring home a strange girl alone, do you?”
Chapter 1 of An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott holds 204 sentences, grouped into 41 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 204 sentences of An Old-Fashioned Girl, unabridged, divided into 41 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 204 sentences, grouped into 41 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 41 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 41 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 An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4434 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #2787 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #2787, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 369 minutes of reading across 887 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through An Old-Fashioned Girl section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 19 chapters of An Old-Fashioned Girl 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 Old-Fashioned Girl, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
