Chapter 17 of Dr. Breen's Practice is here in full — 211 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVII
Chapter 17 of Dr. Breen's Practice is here in full — 211 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him. “I have nothing to say,” she whispered huskily. “I can’t answer you.” “Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise. “Don’t answer me now.
Chapter 17 of Dr. Breen's Practice is here in full — 211 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/42 · 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.
the act of escaping physically
From this reading “She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.”
inflected form of “fling” — throw with force or recklessness
From this reading “She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.”
keep engaged
From this reading “She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.”
in motion
From this reading ““Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.”
move upward
From this reading ““Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.”
the act of searching for something
From this reading “She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.”
a state of acute pain
From this reading ““Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.”
spoken in soft hushed tones without vibrations of the vocal cords
From this reading ““I have nothing to say,” she whispered huskily.”
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 She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
(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 She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
react verbally
From this reading “I can’t answer you.”
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading “Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading “Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “I can’t answer you.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Don’t answer me now.
the act of escaping physically
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “a”; a small but indefinite number
From this reading “Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.
inflected form of “fling” — throw with force or recklessness
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading “I have nothing to say,” she whispered huskily.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading “Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “I have nothing to say,” she whispered huskily.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “I have nothing to say,” she whispered huskily.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading “Don’t answer me now.
keep engaged
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
in motion
From this reading “Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading “I have nothing to say,” she whispered huskily.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading “Don’t answer me now.
move upward
From this reading “Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.
a charge of ammunition for a single shot
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.
express in words
From this reading “I have nothing to say,” she whispered huskily.
the act of searching for something
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
a flight of stairs or a flight of steps
From this reading “Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.
happening unexpectedly
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
a state of acute pain
From this reading “Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Well, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “I have nothing to say,” she whispered huskily.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading She looked all round, as if seeking escape from a mesh suddenly flung about her, and then she looked imploringly up at him.
(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, that’s all I ask,” he said, moving a few steps, away, and suffering her to rise.
spoken in soft hushed tones without vibrations of the vocal cords
From this reading “I have nothing to say,” she whispered huskily.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “I can’t answer you.”
Chapter 17 of Dr. Breen's Practice by William Dean Howells holds 211 sentences, grouped into 43 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 211 sentences of Dr. Breen's Practice, unabridged, divided into 43 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 17 of Dr. Breen's Practice by William Dean Howells exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 211 sentences, grouped into 43 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 43 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 43 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 Dr. Breen's Practice by William Dean Howells on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3880 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #3364 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #3364, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 323 minutes of reading across 776 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Dr. Breen's Practice section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 19 chapters of Dr. Breen's Practice 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 Dr. Breen's Practice, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
