Chapter 8 of Benighted is here in full — 207 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of Benighted is here in full — 207 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
‘What’s that?’ Sir William held up his hand. ‘Didn’t you hear something?’ Margaret leaned forward in her chair. ‘I thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’
Chapter 8 of Benighted is here in full — 207 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/41 · 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.
a seat for one person, with a support for the back
From this reading “Margaret leaned forward in her chair.”
separated in space or coming from or going to a distance
From this reading “‘I thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’”
at or to or toward the front
From this reading “Margaret leaned forward in her chair.”
occupied or in the control of; often used in combination
From this reading “Sir William held up his hand.”
having or showing a tender and considerate and helpful nature; used especially of persons and their behavior
From this reading “‘I thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’”
past form of “lean” — to incline or bend from a vertical position
From this reading “Margaret leaned forward in her chair.”
sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)
From this reading “‘I thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’”
a loud low dull continuous noise
From this reading “‘I thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’”
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 “Margaret leaned forward in her chair.”
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 thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’
a seat for one person, with a support for the back
From this reading Margaret leaned forward in her chair.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ‘Didn’t you hear something?’
separated in space or coming from or going to a distance
From this reading ‘I thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’
at or to or toward the front
From this reading Margaret leaned forward in her chair.
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading Sir William held up his hand.
perceive (sound) via the auditory sense
From this reading ‘Didn’t you hear something?’
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading ‘I thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’
occupied or in the control of; often used in combination
From this reading Sir William held up his hand.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Margaret leaned forward in her chair.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Sir William held up his hand.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading ‘I thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Margaret leaned forward in her chair.
having or showing a tender and considerate and helpful nature; used especially of persons and their behavior
From this reading ‘I thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’
past form of “lean” — to incline or bend from a vertical position
From this reading Margaret leaned forward in her chair.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Margaret leaned forward in her chair.
sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)
From this reading ‘I thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading ‘I thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’
a loud low dull continuous noise
From this reading ‘I thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’
term of address for a man
From this reading Sir William held up his hand.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading ‘Didn’t you hear something?’
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading ‘What’s that?’
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading ‘I thought I heard a noise, a kind of distant rumbling.’
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading Sir William held up his hand.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ‘What’s that?’
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Sir William held up his hand.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading ‘Didn’t you hear something?’
Chapter 8 of Benighted by J. B. (John Boynton) Priestley holds 207 sentences, grouped into 42 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 8 holds 207 sentences of Benighted, unabridged, divided into 42 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of Benighted by J. B. (John Boynton) Priestley exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 207 sentences, grouped into 42 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 42 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 42 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 8 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 Benighted by J. B. (John Boynton) Priestley on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4901 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #73673 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #73673, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 408 minutes of reading across 981 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Benighted section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 15 chapters of Benighted 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 Benighted, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
