Chapter 2 of Chicken Little Jane on the Big John is here in full — 221 sentences across 45 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of Chicken Little Jane on the Big John is here in full — 221 sentences across 45 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting. "Here comes Father, Jane. Run out and get the mail. There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming." "Oh, I do hope there is!"
Chapter 2 of Chicken Little Jane on the Big John is here in full — 221 sentences across 45 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/44 · 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.
in a busy manner
From this reading “HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.”
the act of eating dinner
From this reading “HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.”
-ing form of “hark” — listen; used mostly in the imperative
From this reading “HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.”
needlework created by interlacing yarn in a series of connected loops using straight eyeless needles or by machine
From this reading “HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.”
the bags of letters and packages that are transported by the postal service
From this reading “Run out and get the mail.”
United States jazz musician who moved from ragtime to New Orleans jazz (1885-1941)
From this reading “HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.”
disclosing unintentionally something concealed
From this reading “There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."”
the social event at which the ceremony of marriage is performed
From this reading “There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."”
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.
a room used for dining
In this reading “HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.”
go back to something earlier
In this reading “HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.”
become used up; be exhausted
In this reading “Run out and get the mail.”
In this reading “HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.”
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 HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
the part of the day between noon and evening
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Run out and get the mail.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."
in a busy manner
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
plural of “come” — the thick white fluid containing spermatozoa that is ejaculated by the male genital tract
From this reading "Here comes Father, Jane.
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."
the act of eating dinner
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading "Oh, I do hope there is!"
a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading "Here comes Father, Jane.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading Run out and get the mail.
-ing form of “hark” — listen; used mostly in the imperative
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading "Here comes Father, Jane.
a specific instance of feeling hopeful
From this reading "Oh, I do hope there is!"
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "Oh, I do hope there is!"
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading "Oh, I do hope there is!"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Here comes Father, Jane.
needlework created by interlacing yarn in a series of connected loops using straight eyeless needles or by machine
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
happening at a time subsequent to a reference time
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
a written message addressed to a person or organization
From this reading There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."
the bags of letters and packages that are transported by the postal service
From this reading Run out and get the mail.
United States jazz musician who moved from ragtime to New Orleans jazz (1885-1941)
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
a form of address for a married woman
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading "Oh, I do hope there is!"
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Run out and get the mail.
an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
move fast by using one's feet, with one foot off the ground at any given time
From this reading Run out and get the mail.
used to say what is right, expected, or advisable
From this reading There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."
(photography) the act of assuming a certain position (as for a photograph or portrait)
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
disclosing unintentionally something concealed
From this reading There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
the social event at which the ceremony of marriage is performed
From this reading There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."
any period of seven consecutive days
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
at the time that
From this reading There should be a letter from Alice telling about the wedding and when they are coming."
a framework of wood or metal that contains a glass windowpane and is built into a wall or roof to admit light or air
From this reading HARKING BACK TO CENTERVILLE Mrs. Morton was sitting by the dining room window one afternoon about a week later, busily knitting.
Chapter 2 of Chicken Little Jane on the Big John by Lily Munsell Ritchie holds 221 sentences, grouped into 45 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 2 holds 221 sentences of Chicken Little Jane on the Big John, unabridged, divided into 45 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of Chicken Little Jane on the Big John by Lily Munsell Ritchie exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 221 sentences, grouped into 45 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 45 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 45 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 2 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 Chicken Little Jane on the Big John by Lily Munsell Ritchie on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5995 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #30629 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #30629, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 499 minutes of reading across 1199 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Chicken Little Jane on the Big John section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 20 chapters of Chicken Little Jane on the Big John 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 Chicken Little Jane on the Big John, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
