Chapter 20 of Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays is here in full — 977 sentences across 196 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XX
Chapter 20 of Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays is here in full — 977 sentences across 196 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
ADOLF. Now and again I have attacks of dizziness. The doctor puts it down to anaemia. GUSTAV [_on the right of Adolf_]. That's just how the thing starts, mark you.
Chapter 20 of Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays is here in full — 977 sentences across 196 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/195 · 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 “attack” — (military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons)
From this reading “Now and again I have attacks of dizziness.”
a reeling sensation; a feeling that you are about to fall
From this reading “Now and again I have attacks of dizziness.”
a licensed medical practitioner
From this reading “The doctor puts it down to anaemia.”
attach a tag or label to
From this reading “That's just how the thing starts, mark you.”
plural of “put” — the option to sell a given stock (or stock index or commodity future) at a given price before a given date
From this reading “The doctor puts it down to anaemia.”
precisely, exactly
From this reading “GUSTAV [_on the right of Adolf_].”
plural of “start” — the beginning of anything
From this reading “That's just how the thing starts, mark you.”
a special situation
From this reading “That's just how the thing starts, mark you.”
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.
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.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ADOLF.
anew
From this reading Now and again I have attacks of dizziness.
a lack of vitality
From this reading The doctor puts it down to anaemia.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Now and again I have attacks of dizziness.
plural of “attack” — (military) an offensive against an enemy (using weapons)
From this reading Now and again I have attacks of dizziness.
a reeling sensation; a feeling that you are about to fall
From this reading Now and again I have attacks of dizziness.
a licensed medical practitioner
From this reading The doctor puts it down to anaemia.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading The doctor puts it down to anaemia.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading GUSTAV [_on the right of Adolf_].
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Now and again I have attacks of dizziness.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading That's just how the thing starts, mark you.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Now and again I have attacks of dizziness.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading The doctor puts it down to anaemia.
and nothing more
From this reading That's just how the thing starts, mark you.
attach a tag or label to
From this reading That's just how the thing starts, mark you.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Now and again I have attacks of dizziness.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Now and again I have attacks of dizziness.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading GUSTAV [_on the right of Adolf_].
plural of “put” — the option to sell a given stock (or stock index or commodity future) at a given price before a given date
From this reading The doctor puts it down to anaemia.
precisely, exactly
From this reading GUSTAV [_on the right of Adolf_].
plural of “start” — the beginning of anything
From this reading That's just how the thing starts, mark you.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading That's just how the thing starts, mark you.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The doctor puts it down to anaemia.
a special situation
From this reading That's just how the thing starts, mark you.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The doctor puts it down to anaemia.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading That's just how the thing starts, mark you.
Chapter 20 of Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays by Frank [Editor] Shay holds 977 sentences, grouped into 196 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 20 holds 977 sentences of Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays, unabridged, divided into 196 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 20 of Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays by Frank [Editor] Shay exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 977 sentences, grouped into 196 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 196 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 196 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 20 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 Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays by Frank [Editor] Shay on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 35466 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #36984 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #36984, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 7094 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 37 chapters of Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays 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 Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
