Chapter 4 of Christmas Stories from French and Spanish Writers is here in full — 412 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of Christmas Stories from French and Spanish Writers is here in full — 412 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The world is wide, after all! My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago. On the other hand, my brothers have married and have children. My father's harp, unstrung and broken, has been thrown among the cast-off furniture. It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.
Chapter 4 of Christmas Stories from French and Spanish Writers is here in full — 412 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/82 · 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.
plural of “brother” — a male with the same parents as someone else
From this reading “On the other hand, my brothers have married and have children.”
period extending from Dec. 24 to Jan. 6
From this reading “It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.”
(Old Testament) Adam's wife in Judeo-Christian mythology: the first woman and mother of the human race; God created Eve from Adam's rib and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
From this reading “It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.”
furnishings that make a room or other area ready for occupancy
From this reading “My father's harp, unstrung and broken, has been thrown among the cast-off furniture.”
the mother of your father or mother
From this reading “My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.”
a chordophone that has a triangular frame consisting of a sounding board and a pillar and a curved neck; the strings stretched between the neck and the soundbox are plucked with the fingers
From this reading “My father's harp, unstrung and broken, has been thrown among the cast-off furniture.”
belonging to or inherited from one's father
From this reading “My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.”
North American woodland herb similar to and used as substitute for the Chinese ginseng
From this reading “My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.”
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 prolonged period of time
In this reading “My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.”
a reception held in your own home
In this reading “It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.”
In this reading “On the other hand, my brothers have married and have children.”
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 My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.
later than; following
From this reading The world is wide, after all!
in the past
From this reading My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.
(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 The world is wide, after all!
surrounded by; in the middle of a group
From this reading My father's harp, unstrung and broken, has been thrown among the cast-off furniture.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading On the other hand, my brothers have married and have children.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading My father's harp, unstrung and broken, has been thrown among the cast-off furniture.
physically and forcibly separated into pieces or cracked or split
From this reading My father's harp, unstrung and broken, has been thrown among the cast-off furniture.
plural of “brother” — a male with the same parents as someone else
From this reading On the other hand, my brothers have married and have children.
thrown away
From this reading My father's harp, unstrung and broken, has been thrown among the cast-off furniture.
plural of “child” — a young person of either sex
From this reading On the other hand, my brothers have married and have children.
period extending from Dec. 24 to Jan. 6
From this reading It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.
two items of the same kind
From this reading My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.
past form of “die” — pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
From this reading My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.
(Old Testament) Adam's wife in Judeo-Christian mythology: the first woman and mother of the human race; God created Eve from Adam's rib and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
From this reading It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.
possessive form of “father” — a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading My father's harp, unstrung and broken, has been thrown among the cast-off furniture.
furnishings that make a room or other area ready for occupancy
From this reading My father's harp, unstrung and broken, has been thrown among the cast-off furniture.
the mother of your father or mother
From this reading My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading On the other hand, my brothers have married and have children.
a chordophone that has a triangular frame consisting of a sounding board and a pillar and a curved neck; the strings stretched between the neck and the soundbox are plucked with the fingers
From this reading My father's harp, unstrung and broken, has been thrown among the cast-off furniture.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading My father's harp, unstrung and broken, has been thrown among the cast-off furniture.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading On the other hand, my brothers have married and have children.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The world is wide, after all!
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.
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 My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “as” or “too” or “so” or “that”; amounting to a large but indefinite number
From this reading It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.
joined in matrimony
From this reading On the other hand, my brothers have married and have children.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading On the other hand, my brothers have married and have children.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.
not the same one or ones already mentioned or implied
From this reading On the other hand, my brothers have married and have children.
belonging to or inherited from one's father
From this reading My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.
North American woodland herb similar to and used as substitute for the Chinese ginseng
From this reading My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.
from a time in the past until now
From this reading It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.
a light evening meal; served in early evening if dinner is at midday or served late in the evening at bedtime
From this reading It has been many a Christmas Eve since I had supper at home.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The world is wide, after all!
caused to fall to the ground
From this reading My father's harp, unstrung and broken, has been thrown among the cast-off furniture.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.
emotionally upset
From this reading My father's harp, unstrung and broken, has been thrown among the cast-off furniture.
which person or people
From this reading My paternal grandmother, the one who sang the couplet, died a long time ago.
having great (or a certain) extent from one side to the other
From this reading The world is wide, after all!
everything that exists anywhere
From this reading The world is wide, after all!
Chapter 4 of Christmas Stories from French and Spanish Writers by Antoinette [Translator] Ogden holds 412 sentences, grouped into 83 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 4 holds 412 sentences of Christmas Stories from French and Spanish Writers, unabridged, divided into 83 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of Christmas Stories from French and Spanish Writers by Antoinette [Translator] Ogden exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 412 sentences, grouped into 83 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 83 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 83 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 4 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 Christmas Stories from French and Spanish Writers by Antoinette [Translator] Ogden on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2835 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #47333 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #47333, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 236 minutes of reading across 567 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Christmas Stories from French and Spanish Writers section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 7 chapters of Christmas Stories from French and Spanish Writers 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 Christmas Stories from French and Spanish Writers, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
