Chapter 14 of Half loaves is here in full — 245 sentences across 49 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XIV
Chapter 14 of Half loaves is here in full — 245 sentences across 49 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks. She found it interesting at first and a little boring afterwards. It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her. She was beautiful and had a charming manner. So much every one admitted.
Chapter 14 of Half loaves is here in full — 245 sentences across 49 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/49 · 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.
inflected form of “admit” — declare to be true or admit the existence or reality or truth of
From this reading “So much every one admitted.”
so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
From this reading “She found it interesting at first and a little boring afterwards.”
marked by blithe unconcern
From this reading “It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.”
pleasing or delighting
From this reading “She was beautiful and had a charming manner.”
not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
From this reading “It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.”
to certain extent or degree
From this reading “Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.”
arousing or holding the attention
From this reading “She found it interesting at first and a little boring afterwards.”
make believe with the intent to deceive
From this reading “It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.”
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 “Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.”
In this reading “She was beautiful and had a charming manner.”
In this reading “Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.”
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 Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.
inflected form of “admit” — declare to be true or admit the existence or reality or truth of
From this reading So much every one admitted.
happening at a time subsequent to a reference time
From this reading She found it interesting at first and a little boring afterwards.
(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 It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading She found it interesting at first and a little boring afterwards.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading She found it interesting at first and a little boring afterwards.
delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration
From this reading She was beautiful and had a charming manner.
so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
From this reading She found it interesting at first and a little boring afterwards.
marked by blithe unconcern
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.
pleasing or delighting
From this reading She was beautiful and had a charming manner.
characterized by great determination
From this reading Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.
not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
divisible by two
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
all the members of a group, with none left out
From this reading So much every one admitted.
to certain extent or degree
From this reading Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “a”; a small but indefinite number
From this reading Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.
preceding all others in time or space or degree
From this reading She found it interesting at first and a little boring afterwards.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.
set up or found
From this reading She found it interesting at first and a little boring afterwards.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading She was beautiful and had a charming manner.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
a sense of concern with and curiosity about someone or something
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
arousing or holding the attention
From this reading She found it interesting at first and a little boring afterwards.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading She found it interesting at first and a little boring afterwards.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading She found it interesting at first and a little boring afterwards.
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading She was beautiful and had a charming manner.
to a great degree or extent
From this reading So much every one admitted.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading So much every one admitted.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
(plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
make believe with the intent to deceive
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
a charge of ammunition for a single shot
From this reading Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She found it interesting at first and a little boring afterwards.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading So much every one admitted.
an extended social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
past form of “start” — take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
From this reading Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.
carry out
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
precisely as stated
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
desired or wished for or sought
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was very difficult for her to take or even pretend to take casual interest in people, and casual interest was all that society wanted of her.
plural of “week” — any period of seven consecutive days
From this reading Cecily started on a fairly determined round of gayety for a few weeks.
Chapter 14 of Half loaves by Margaret Culkin Banning holds 245 sentences, grouped into 49 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 245 sentences of Half loaves, unabridged, divided into 49 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 14 of Half loaves by Margaret Culkin Banning exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 245 sentences, grouped into 49 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 49 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 49 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 Half loaves by Margaret Culkin Banning on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Half loaves section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of Half loaves 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 Half loaves, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
