Chapter 1 of Assignats is here in full — 690 sentences across 138 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Assignats is here in full — 690 sentences across 138 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Author of “The Iron Dollar.” When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men. These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea. Ivan spoke to them in English. “I have a ship,” he said.
Chapter 1 of Assignats is here in full — 690 sentences across 138 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/138 · 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.
writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
From this reading “Author of “The Iron Dollar.””
an area of sand sloping down to the water of a sea or lake
From this reading “When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.”
the basic monetary unit in many countries; equal to 100 cents
From this reading “Author of “The Iron Dollar.””
a heavy ductile magnetic metallic element; is silver-white in pure form but readily rusts; used in construction and tools and armament; plays a role in the transport of oxygen by the blood
From this reading “Author of “The Iron Dollar.””
a string of more than 3,000 islands to the east of Asia extending 1,300 miles between the Sea of Japan and the western Pacific Ocean
From this reading “These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea.”
a city in northwestern Russia on the Volkhov River; Russia's oldest city and an important trading center in the Middle Ages
From this reading “When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.”
(used of eyes) open and fixed as if in fear or wonder
From this reading “These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea.”
the name used to identify the members of a family (as distinguished from each member's given name)
From this reading “When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.”
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 “When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.”
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 “I have a ship,” he said.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
From this reading Author of “The Iron Dollar.”
an area of sand sloping down to the water of a sea or lake
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
the basic monetary unit in many countries; equal to 100 cents
From this reading Author of “The Iron Dollar.”
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
an Indo-European language belonging to the West Germanic branch; the official language of Britain and the United States and most of the commonwealth countries
From this reading Ivan spoke to them in English.
set up or found
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading “I have a ship,” he said.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “I have a ship,” he said.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Ivan spoke to them in English.
a heavy ductile magnetic metallic element; is silver-white in pure form but readily rusts; used in construction and tools and armament; plays a role in the transport of oxygen by the blood
From this reading Author of “The Iron Dollar.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
a string of more than 3,000 islands to the east of Asia extending 1,300 miles between the Sea of Japan and the western Pacific Ocean
From this reading These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
the force of workers available
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
a city in northwestern Russia on the Volkhov River; Russia's oldest city and an important trading center in the Middle Ages
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Author of “The Iron Dollar.”
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea.
above and across; more than
From this reading These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “I have a ship,” he said.
a division of an ocean or a large body of salt water partially enclosed by land
From this reading These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea.
transport commercially
From this reading “I have a ship,” he said.
(photography) the act of assuming a certain position (as for a photograph or portrait)
From this reading These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea.
support consisting of a radial member of a wheel joining the hub to the rim
From this reading Ivan spoke to them in English.
(used of eyes) open and fixed as if in fear or wonder
From this reading These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea.
the name used to identify the members of a family (as distinguished from each member's given name)
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Author of “The Iron Dollar.”
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading Ivan spoke to them in English.
the plural of “this”: the people or things near, or just mentioned
From this reading These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Ivan spoke to them in English.
past form of “walk” — use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading These men were sitting on their haunches staring out over the Japan Sea.
at the time that
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
in the company of; together with
From this reading When Ivan with the long surname walked down the beach at Novgorod he found three men.
Chapter 1 of Assignats by Henry Leverage holds 690 sentences, grouped into 138 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 690 sentences of Assignats, unabridged, divided into 138 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Assignats by Henry Leverage exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 690 sentences, grouped into 138 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 138 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 138 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 Assignats by Henry Leverage on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 690 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #68918 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #68918, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 57 minutes of reading across 138 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Assignats section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of Assignats 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 Assignats, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
