Chapter 1 of Harper's Young People, March 14, 1882 is here in full — 510 sentences across 102 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Harper's Young People, March 14, 1882 is here in full — 510 sentences across 102 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
POLLY GARDNER AND THE DRAW-BRIDGE. BY JULIA K. HILDRETH. Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country. She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city. It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.
Chapter 1 of Harper's Young People, March 14, 1882 is here in full — 510 sentences across 102 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/102 · 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.
United States collector and patron of art who built a museum in Boston to house her collection and opened it to the public in 1903 (1840-1924)
From this reading “POLLY GARDNER AND THE DRAW-BRIDGE.”
plural of “month” — one of the twelve divisions of the calendar year
From this reading “It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.”
under a moral obligation to do something
From this reading “She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.”
completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
From this reading “She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.”
stay the same; remain in a certain state
From this reading “She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.”
the act of spending or disbursing money
From this reading “Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country.”
leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure
From this reading “Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country.”
plural of “week” — any period of seven consecutive days
From this reading “It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.”
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 “She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.”
In this reading “It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.”
In this reading “It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.”
In this reading “She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.”
In this reading “She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.”
In this reading “Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country.”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading POLLY GARDNER AND THE DRAW-BRIDGE.
the sister of your father or mother; the wife of your uncle
From this reading Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading BY JULIA K. HILDRETH.
a large and densely populated urban area; may include several independent administrative districts
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
a politically organized body of people under a single government
From this reading Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading POLLY GARDNER AND THE DRAW-BRIDGE.
a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one
From this reading It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.
United States collector and patron of art who built a museum in Boston to house her collection and opened it to the public in 1903 (1840-1924)
From this reading POLLY GARDNER AND THE DRAW-BRIDGE.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country.
enjoying or showing or marked by joy or pleasure
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BY JULIA K. HILDRETH.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BY JULIA K. HILDRETH.
the basic unit of thermodynamic temperature adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
From this reading BY JULIA K. HILDRETH.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.
the mother of Jesus; Christians refer to her as the Virgin Mary; she is especially honored by Roman Catholics
From this reading Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country.
plural of “month” — one of the twelve divisions of the calendar year
From this reading It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.
a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
under a moral obligation to do something
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading POLLY GARDNER AND THE DRAW-BRIDGE.
stay the same; remain in a certain state
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
past form of “seem” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.
inflected form of “see” — perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
from a time in the past until now
From this reading It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.
the act of spending or disbursing money
From this reading Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading POLLY GARDNER AND THE DRAW-BRIDGE.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure
From this reading Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.
plural of “week” — any period of seven consecutive days
From this reading It was five weeks since she had seen them, and it seemed to Polly like five months.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Polly Gardner had been spending her vacation with Aunt Mary in the country.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading She would have been "perfectly happy" but that her father and mother were obliged to remain in the city.
Chapter 1 of Harper's Young People, March 14, 1882 by Various holds 510 sentences, grouped into 102 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 1 holds 510 sentences of Harper's Young People, March 14, 1882, unabridged, divided into 102 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Harper's Young People, March 14, 1882 by Various exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 510 sentences, grouped into 102 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 102 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 102 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 1 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 Harper's Young People, March 14, 1882 by Various on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 985 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #56122 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #56122, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 82 minutes of reading across 197 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Harper's Young People, March 14, 1882 section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 2 chapters of Harper's Young People, March 14, 1882 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 Harper's Young People, March 14, 1882, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
