Chapter 11 of Chains is here in full — 423 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XI
Chapter 11 of Chains is here in full — 423 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door. God! And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before. And the very lock the same! Could he believe?
Chapter 11 of Chains is here in full — 423 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/84 · 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.
causing dejection
From this reading “And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.”
an act that fails
From this reading “And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.”
a relatively small granular particle of a substance
From this reading “And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.”
reproduce someone's behavior or looks
From this reading “And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.”
past form of “near” — move towards
From this reading “It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.”
the hard durable wood of any oak; used especially for furniture and flooring
From this reading “And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.”
past form of “trudge” — walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
From this reading “It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.”
not made or become different
From this reading “And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.”
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.
be restored
In this reading “It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.”
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 And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
earlier than; in front of
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
accept as true; take to be true
From this reading Could he believe?
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading Could he believe?
causing dejection
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
a swinging or sliding barrier that will close the entrance to a room or building or vehicle
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
an act that fails
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
the supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe; the object of worship in monotheistic religions
From this reading God!
a relatively small granular particle of a substance
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
the -ing form of “have”
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
reproduce someone's behavior or looks
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
the principal activity in your life that you do to earn money
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
fasten with a lock
From this reading And the very lock the same!
in accordance with nature; relating to or concerning nature
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
past form of “near” — move towards
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
widely known and esteemed
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
the hard durable wood of any oak; used especially for furniture and flooring
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
coated with paint
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
Identical; not different.
From this reading And the very lock the same!
a flight of stairs or a flight of steps
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
past form of “trudge” — walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
moved around an axis or center
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
not made or become different
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading It all came back to him now as he trudged up the stairs and neared the door.
precisely as stated
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
a late time of life
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
of the color intermediate between green and orange in the color spectrum; of something resembling the color of an egg yolk
From this reading And here was the very door, unchanged—yellow, painted to imitate the natural grain of oak, but the job having turned out a dismal failure as he had noted years before.
Chapter 11 of Chains by Theodore Dreiser holds 423 sentences, grouped into 85 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 11 holds 423 sentences of Chains, unabridged, divided into 85 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 11 of Chains by Theodore Dreiser exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 423 sentences, grouped into 85 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 85 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 85 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 11 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 Chains by Theodore Dreiser on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 7555 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #72326 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #72326, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1511 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Chains section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 18 chapters of Chains 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 Chains, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
