Chapter 11 of First Plays is here in full — 420 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XI
Chapter 11 of First Plays is here in full — 420 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
DELIA. Aren't you a poet? BELINDA. Yes, darling, but that doesn't prevent him eating. He'll be absolutely lyrical over Betty's sandwiches.
Chapter 11 of First Plays is here in full — 420 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/84 · 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.
completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
From this reading “He'll be absolutely lyrical over Betty's sandwiches.”
a special loved one
From this reading “Yes, darling, but that doesn't prevent him eating.”
the act of consuming food
From this reading “Yes, darling, but that doesn't prevent him eating.”
suitable for or suggestive of singing
From this reading “He'll be absolutely lyrical over Betty's sandwiches.”
a writer of poems (the term is usually reserved for writers of good poetry)
From this reading “Aren't you a poet?”
keep from happening or arising; make impossible
From this reading “Yes, darling, but that doesn't prevent him eating.”
plural of “sandwich” — two (or more) slices of bread with a filling between them
From this reading “He'll be absolutely lyrical over Betty's sandwiches.”
an affirmative
From this reading “Yes, darling, but that doesn't prevent him eating.”
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 Aren't you a poet?
completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
From this reading He'll be absolutely lyrical over Betty's sandwiches.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Aren't you a poet?
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading He'll be absolutely lyrical over Betty's sandwiches.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BELINDA.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He'll be absolutely lyrical over Betty's sandwiches.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading Yes, darling, but that doesn't prevent him eating.
a special loved one
From this reading Yes, darling, but that doesn't prevent him eating.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading DELIA.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Yes, darling, but that doesn't prevent him eating.
the act of consuming food
From this reading Yes, darling, but that doesn't prevent him eating.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He'll be absolutely lyrical over Betty's sandwiches.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Yes, darling, but that doesn't prevent him eating.
suitable for or suggestive of singing
From this reading He'll be absolutely lyrical over Betty's sandwiches.
above and across; more than
From this reading He'll be absolutely lyrical over Betty's sandwiches.
a writer of poems (the term is usually reserved for writers of good poetry)
From this reading Aren't you a poet?
keep from happening or arising; make impossible
From this reading Yes, darling, but that doesn't prevent him eating.
plural of “sandwich” — two (or more) slices of bread with a filling between them
From this reading He'll be absolutely lyrical over Betty's sandwiches.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Yes, darling, but that doesn't prevent him eating.
an affirmative
From this reading Yes, darling, but that doesn't prevent him eating.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Aren't you a poet?
Chapter 11 of First Plays by A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne holds 420 sentences, grouped into 84 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 11 holds 420 sentences of First Plays, unabridged, divided into 84 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 11 of First Plays by A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 420 sentences, grouped into 84 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 84 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 84 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 11 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 First Plays by A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5418 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #7805 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #7805, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 451 minutes of reading across 1084 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through First Plays section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 13 chapters of First 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 First Plays, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
