Chapter 1 of Don Gordon's Shooting-Box is here in full — 97 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Don Gordon's Shooting-Box is here in full — 97 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE MILITARY ACADEMY. “Well, now, I am disgusted.” “So am I. I call it a most unusual proceeding.” “That is a very mild term to be applied to it. _I_ call it an outrage.
Chapter 1 of Don Gordon's Shooting-Box is here in full — 97 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/19 · 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 place of study or training in a special field of knowledge and arts.
From this reading “THE MILITARY ACADEMY.”
concerned with concrete problems or data rather than with fundamental principles
From this reading ““That is a very mild term to be applied to it.”
having a strong distaste from surfeit
From this reading ““Well, now, I am disgusted.””
moderate in type or degree or effect or force; far from extreme
From this reading ““That is a very mild term to be applied to it.”
a feeling of righteous anger
From this reading “_I_ call it an outrage.”
(law) the institution of a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked
From this reading ““So am I. I call it a most unusual proceeding.””
a word or expression used for some particular thing
From this reading ““That is a very mild term to be applied to it.”
not usual or common or ordinary
From this reading ““So am I. I call it a most unusual proceeding.””
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 ““So am I. I call it a most unusual proceeding.””
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 “So am I. I call it a most unusual proceeding.”
A place of study or training in a special field of knowledge and arts.
From this reading THE MILITARY ACADEMY.
the form of “be” used with “I”
From this reading “Well, now, I am disgusted.”
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading _I_ call it an outrage.
concerned with concrete problems or data rather than with fundamental principles
From this reading “That is a very mild term to be applied to it.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading “That is a very mild term to be applied to it.
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading “So am I. I call it a most unusual proceeding.”
having a strong distaste from surfeit
From this reading “Well, now, I am disgusted.”
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “Well, now, I am disgusted.”
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading “That is a very mild term to be applied to it.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading “So am I. I call it a most unusual proceeding.”
moderate in type or degree or effect or force; far from extreme
From this reading “That is a very mild term to be applied to it.
of or relating to the study of the principles of warfare
From this reading THE MILITARY ACADEMY.
used to form the superlative
From this reading “So am I. I call it a most unusual proceeding.”
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading “Well, now, I am disgusted.”
a feeling of righteous anger
From this reading _I_ call it an outrage.
(law) the institution of a sequence of steps by which legal judgments are invoked
From this reading “So am I. I call it a most unusual proceeding.”
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading “So am I. I call it a most unusual proceeding.”
a word or expression used for some particular thing
From this reading “That is a very mild term to be applied to it.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading “That is a very mild term to be applied to it.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE MILITARY ACADEMY.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “That is a very mild term to be applied to it.
not usual or common or ordinary
From this reading “So am I. I call it a most unusual proceeding.”
precisely as stated
From this reading “That is a very mild term to be applied to it.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading “Well, now, I am disgusted.”
Chapter 1 of Don Gordon's Shooting-Box by Harry Castlemon holds 97 sentences, grouped into 20 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 1 holds 97 sentences of Don Gordon's Shooting-Box, unabridged, divided into 20 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Don Gordon's Shooting-Box by Harry Castlemon exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 97 sentences, grouped into 20 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 20 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 20 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 1 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 Don Gordon's Shooting-Box by Harry Castlemon on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3248 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #53479 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #53479, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 270 minutes of reading across 650 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Don Gordon's Shooting-Box section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 17 chapters of Don Gordon's Shooting-Box 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 Don Gordon's Shooting-Box, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
