Chapter 14 of Footprints is here in full — 564 sentences across 113 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XIV
Chapter 14 of Footprints is here in full — 564 sentences across 113 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
I Friday night, October 12, 1900. Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest. It was pretty bad. Worse than I had expected. Hank Buckerman was all right, decent as could be.
Chapter 14 of Footprints is here in full — 564 sentences across 113 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/112 · 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 process whereby a person concentrates on some features of the environment to the (relative) exclusion of others
From this reading “Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.”
possessive form of “coroner” — a public official who investigates by inquest any death not due to natural causes
socially or conventionally correct; refined or virtuous
From this reading “Hank Buckerman was all right, decent as could be.”
the sixth day of the week; the fifth working day
From this reading “I Friday night, October 12, 1900.”
a coil of rope or wool or yarn
From this reading “Hank Buckerman was all right, decent as could be.”
an inquiry into the cause of an unexpected death
From this reading “Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.”
the month following September and preceding November
From this reading “I Friday night, October 12, 1900.”
(comparative of “bad”) inferior to another in quality or condition or desirability
From this reading “Worse than I had expected.”
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 “Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.”
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 I Friday night, October 12, 1900.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I Friday night, October 12, 1900.
(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 Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading Hank Buckerman was all right, decent as could be.
the process whereby a person concentrates on some features of the environment to the (relative) exclusion of others
From this reading Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.
having undesirable or negative qualities
From this reading It was pretty bad.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Hank Buckerman was all right, decent as could be.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Hank Buckerman was all right, decent as could be.
possessive form of “coroner” — a public official who investigates by inquest any death not due to natural causes
From this reading Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading Hank Buckerman was all right, decent as could be.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.
dearly loved
From this reading Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.
socially or conventionally correct; refined or virtuous
From this reading Hank Buckerman was all right, decent as could be.
considered likely or probable to happen or arrive
From this reading Worse than I had expected.
the sixth day of the week; the fifth working day
From this reading I Friday night, October 12, 1900.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Worse than I had expected.
a coil of rope or wool or yarn
From this reading Hank Buckerman was all right, decent as could be.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I Friday night, October 12, 1900.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.
an inquiry into the cause of an unexpected death
From this reading Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was pretty bad.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading I Friday night, October 12, 1900.
the month following September and preceding November
From this reading I Friday night, October 12, 1900.
pleasing by delicacy or grace; not imposing
From this reading It was pretty bad.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.
precisely, exactly
From this reading Hank Buckerman was all right, decent as could be.
used to introduce the second part of a comparison
From this reading Worse than I had expected.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was pretty bad.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading Dear Judy: We have been all day in Quilterville, attending the coroner’s inquest.
(comparative of “bad”) inferior to another in quality or condition or desirability
From this reading Worse than I had expected.
Chapter 14 of Footprints by Kay Cleaver Strahan holds 564 sentences, grouped into 113 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 14 holds 564 sentences of Footprints, unabridged, divided into 113 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 14 of Footprints by Kay Cleaver Strahan exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 564 sentences, grouped into 113 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 113 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 113 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 14 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 Footprints by Kay Cleaver Strahan on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6386 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #75577 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #75577, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 532 minutes of reading across 1278 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Footprints section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 21 chapters of Footprints 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 Footprints, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
