Chapter 17 of Billy To-morrow is here in full — 55 sentences across 11 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVII
Chapter 17 of Billy To-morrow is here in full — 55 sentences across 11 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
BILLY TO-DAY Things happened very fast the next few days. “Something doing every minute,” Billy put it. Billy had neither been ill nor injured,--only exhausted. The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely. Was not May Nell safe?
Chapter 17 of Billy To-morrow is here in full — 55 sentences across 11 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/11 · 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 short stout club used primarily by policemen
From this reading “BILLY TO-DAY Things happened very fast the next few days.”
to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent (“whole” is often used informally for “wholly”)
From this reading “The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.”
drained of energy or effectiveness; extremely tired; completely exhausted
From this reading “Billy had neither been ill nor injured,--only exhausted.”
harmed
From this reading “Billy had neither been ill nor injured,--only exhausted.”
past form of “mend” — restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken
From this reading “The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.”
Periods of darkness between sunset and sunrise.
From this reading “The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.”
the skin that covers the top of the head
From this reading “The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.”
an injury to living tissue (especially an injury involving a cut or break in the skin)
From this reading “The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.”
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 “BILLY TO-DAY Things happened very fast the next few days.”
a reception held in your own home
In this reading “The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.”
in reality or actuality
In this reading “The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.”
In this reading “The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.”
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 The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
outward or visible aspect of a person or thing
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Billy had neither been ill nor injured,--only exhausted.
a short stout club used primarily by policemen
From this reading BILLY TO-DAY Things happened very fast the next few days.
to a complete degree or to the full or entire extent (“whole” is often used informally for “wholly”)
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
a pair who associate with one another
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
the time during which someone's life continues
From this reading BILLY TO-DAY Things happened very fast the next few days.
-ing form of “do” — engage in
From this reading “Something doing every minute,” Billy put it.
posing no difficulty; requiring little effort
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
all the members of a group, with none left out
From this reading “Something doing every minute,” Billy put it.
drained of energy or effectiveness; extremely tired; completely exhausted
From this reading Billy had neither been ill nor injured,--only exhausted.
a piece of information about circumstances that exist or events that have occurred
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
quickly or rapidly (often used as a combining form)
From this reading BILLY TO-DAY Things happened very fast the next few days.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “a”; a small but indefinite number
From this reading BILLY TO-DAY Things happened very fast the next few days.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Billy had neither been ill nor injured,--only exhausted.
past form of “happen” — come to pass
From this reading BILLY TO-DAY Things happened very fast the next few days.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function
From this reading Billy had neither been ill nor injured,--only exhausted.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
harmed
From this reading Billy had neither been ill nor injured,--only exhausted.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading “Something doing every minute,” Billy put it.
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 The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
used to say something is possible, or to give permission
From this reading Was not May Nell safe?
past form of “mend” — restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour
From this reading “Something doing every minute,” Billy put it.
not one and not the other of two
From this reading Billy had neither been ill nor injured,--only exhausted.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Was not May Nell safe?
immediately following in time or order
From this reading BILLY TO-DAY Things happened very fast the next few days.
Periods of darkness between sunset and sunrise.
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
and not; used after a negative to add a second negative
From this reading Billy had neither been ill nor injured,--only exhausted.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading Was not May Nell safe?
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
and nothing more
From this reading Billy had neither been ill nor injured,--only exhausted.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading “Something doing every minute,” Billy put it.
free from danger or the risk of harm
From this reading Was not May Nell safe?
the skin that covers the top of the head
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading “Something doing every minute,” Billy put it.
used to introduce the second part of a comparison
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading BILLY TO-DAY Things happened very fast the next few days.
any movable possession (especially articles of clothing)
From this reading BILLY TO-DAY Things happened very fast the next few days.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BILLY TO-DAY Things happened very fast the next few days.
precisely as stated
From this reading BILLY TO-DAY Things happened very fast the next few days.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Was not May Nell safe?
(comparative of “bad”) inferior to another in quality or condition or desirability
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
an injury to living tissue (especially an injury involving a cut or break in the skin)
From this reading The wound on his scalp had been worse in appearance than in fact; and a couple of long nights in sleep, and easy days at home mended him completely.
Chapter 17 of Billy To-morrow by Sarah Pratt Carr holds 55 sentences, grouped into 11 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 17 holds 55 sentences of Billy To-morrow, unabridged, divided into 11 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 17 of Billy To-morrow by Sarah Pratt Carr exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 55 sentences, grouped into 11 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 11 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 11 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 17 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 Billy To-morrow by Sarah Pratt Carr on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2534 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #62288 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #62288, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 211 minutes of reading across 507 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Billy To-morrow section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 17 chapters of Billy To-morrow 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 Billy To-morrow, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
