Chapter 31 of An Old Sailor's Yarns is here in full — 47 sentences across 10 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXXI
Chapter 31 of An Old Sailor's Yarns is here in full — 47 sentences across 10 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
_Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched. _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass. KING LEAR.
Chapter 31 of An Old Sailor's Yarns is here in full — 47 sentences across 10 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/9 · 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.
excessively
From this reading “_Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.”
plural of “end” — either extremity of something that has length
From this reading “ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.”
British artist and writer of nonsense verse (1812-1888)
From this reading “KING LEAR.”
plural of “mouth” — the opening through which food is taken in and vocalizations emerge
From this reading “There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.”
plural of “nail” — horny plate covering and protecting part of the dorsal surface of the digits
From this reading “_Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.”
decrease gradually or bit by bit
From this reading “_Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.”
past form of “scratch” — cause friction
From this reading “_Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.”
plural of “ti” — a light strong grey lustrous corrosion-resistant metallic element used in strong lightweight alloys (as for airplane parts); the main sources are rutile and ilmenite
From this reading “_Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.”
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 _Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.
the form of “be” used with “I”
From this reading _Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.
excessively
From this reading _Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
plural of “end” — either extremity of something that has length
From this reading ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.
free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules
From this reading There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.
an unknown and unpredictable phenomenon that causes an event to result one way rather than another
From this reading _Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
a brittle transparent solid with irregular atomic structure
From this reading There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.
an old form of “has”
From this reading _Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading _Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.
a male sovereign; ruler of a kingdom
From this reading KING LEAR.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
being or occurring at an advanced period of time or after a usual or expected time
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
British artist and writer of nonsense verse (1812-1888)
From this reading KING LEAR.
terms referring to the Judeo-Christian God
From this reading _Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading _Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
plural of “mouth” — the opening through which food is taken in and vocalizations emerge
From this reading There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading _Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
plural of “nail” — horny plate covering and protecting part of the dorsal surface of the digits
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
decrease gradually or bit by bit
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
past form of “scratch” — cause friction
From this reading _Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.
plural of “ti” — a light strong grey lustrous corrosion-resistant metallic element used in strong lightweight alloys (as for airplane parts); the main sources are rutile and ilmenite
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
the form of “who” used as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading _Parolles._ My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
but in spite of that
From this reading There never was yet fair woman but she made mouths in a glass.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading _Lafeu._ Well, what would you have me to do? 'tis too late to pare her nails now.
Chapter 31 of An Old Sailor's Yarns by N. (Nathaniel) Ames holds 47 sentences, grouped into 10 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 31 holds 47 sentences of An Old Sailor's Yarns, unabridged, divided into 10 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 31 of An Old Sailor's Yarns by N. (Nathaniel) Ames exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 47 sentences, grouped into 10 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 10 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 10 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 31 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 Sailor's Yarns by N. (Nathaniel) Ames on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2393 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #29323 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #29323, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 199 minutes of reading across 479 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through An Old Sailor's Yarns section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 33 chapters of An Old Sailor's Yarns 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 Sailor's Yarns, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
