Chapter 1 of Around the Tea-Table is here in full — 133 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Around the Tea-Table is here in full — 133 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE TABLE-CLOTH IS SPREAD. Our theory has always been, "Eat lightly in the evening." While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk. The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school. The wife is done mending or shopping.
Chapter 1 of Around the Tea-Table is here in full — 133 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/26 · 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.
plural of “dish” — a piece of dishware normally used as a container for holding or serving food
From this reading “While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.”
without good reason
From this reading “Our theory has always been, "Eat lightly in the evening."”
garments that must be repaired
From this reading “The wife is done mending or shopping.”
the middle of the day
From this reading “While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.”
according to the clock
From this reading “The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.”
searching for or buying goods or services
From this reading “The wife is done mending or shopping.”
a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena
From this reading “Our theory has always been, "Eat lightly in the evening."”
possessive form of “world” — everything that exists anywhere
From this reading “The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.”
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.
at all times; all the time and on every occasion
From this reading Our theory has always been, "Eat lightly in the evening."
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Our theory has always been, "Eat lightly in the evening."
the property of copious abundance
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
plural of “child” — a young person of either sex
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
plural of “dish” — a piece of dishware normally used as a container for holding or serving food
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
having finished or arrived at completion
From this reading The wife is done mending or shopping.
take in solid food
From this reading Our theory has always been, "Eat lightly in the evening."
the latter part of the day (the period of decreasing daylight from late afternoon until nightfall)
From this reading Our theory has always been, "Eat lightly in the evening."
(of materials or goods) brought to the desired final state
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Our theory has always been, "Eat lightly in the evening."
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Our theory has always been, "Eat lightly in the evening."
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading THE TABLE-CLOTH IS SPREAD.
without good reason
From this reading Our theory has always been, "Eat lightly in the evening."
the basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites (approximately 1.094 yards)
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
garments that must be repaired
From this reading The wife is done mending or shopping.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
used to form the superlative
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
to a great degree or extent
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
the middle of the day
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
according to the clock
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading The wife is done mending or shopping.
used with “to” to say what is right or advisable
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading Our theory has always been, "Eat lightly in the evening."
a multivalent nonmetallic element of the nitrogen family that occurs commonly in inorganic phosphate rocks and as organic phosphates in all living cells; is highly reactive and occurs in several allotropic forms
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
an educational institution
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
searching for or buying goods or services
From this reading The wife is done mending or shopping.
the cardinal number that is the sum of five and one
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
distribute or disperse widely
From this reading THE TABLE-CLOTH IS SPREAD.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE TABLE-CLOTH IS SPREAD.
exchange thoughts; talk with
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE TABLE-CLOTH IS SPREAD.
a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena
From this reading Our theory has always been, "Eat lightly in the evening."
in or at that place or location
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
for that reason; as a result
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
during the time that
From this reading While, therefore, morning and noon there is bountifulness, we do not have much on our tea-table but dishes and talk.
a married woman; a man's partner in marriage
From this reading The wife is done mending or shopping.
exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
possessive form of “world” — everything that exists anywhere
From this reading The most of the world's work ought to be finished by six o'clock p.m. The children are home from school.
Chapter 1 of Around the Tea-Table by T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt) Talmage holds 133 sentences, grouped into 27 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 133 sentences of Around the Tea-Table, unabridged, divided into 27 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Around the Tea-Table by T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt) Talmage exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 133 sentences, grouped into 27 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 27 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 27 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 Around the Tea-Table by T. De Witt (Thomas De Witt) Talmage on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4312 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #14662 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #14662, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 359 minutes of reading across 863 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Around the Tea-Table section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of Around the Tea-Table 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 Around the Tea-Table, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
