Chapter 1 of Helen in the Editor's Chair is here in full — 107 sentences across 22 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Helen in the Editor's Chair is here in full — 107 sentences across 22 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
_The Weekly Herald_ Thursday! Press day! Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room. Five more minutes and school would be dismissed for the day. How those minutes dragged.
Chapter 1 of Helen in the Editor's Chair is here in full — 107 sentences across 22 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/21 · 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.
with anxiety or apprehension
From this reading “Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.”
a group of machine parts that fit together to form a self-contained unit
From this reading “Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.”
British statesman who became prime minister in 1997 (born in 1953)
From this reading “Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.”
a timepiece that shows the time of day
From this reading “Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.”
having lost your job
From this reading “Five more minutes and school would be dismissed for the day.”
foreshadow or presage
the fifth day of the week; the fourth working day
From this reading “_The Weekly Herald_ Thursday!”
a periodical that is published every week (or 52 issues per year)
From this reading “_The Weekly Herald_ Thursday!”
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 “Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.”
In this reading “Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.”
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 Five more minutes and school would be dismissed for the day.
with anxiety or apprehension
From this reading Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.
a group of machine parts that fit together to form a self-contained unit
From this reading Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Five more minutes and school would be dismissed for the day.
British statesman who became prime minister in 1997 (born in 1953)
From this reading Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.
a timepiece that shows the time of day
From this reading Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading Press day!
having lost your job
From this reading Five more minutes and school would be dismissed for the day.
inflected form of “drag” — pull, as against a resistance
From this reading How those minutes dragged.
the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one
From this reading Five more minutes and school would be dismissed for the day.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Five more minutes and school would be dismissed for the day.
(Greek mythology) the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda who was abducted by Paris; the Greek army sailed to Troy to get her back which resulted in the Trojan War
From this reading Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.
foreshadow or presage
From this reading _The Weekly Herald_ Thursday!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading How those minutes dragged.
a written account of what transpired at a meeting
From this reading Five more minutes and school would be dismissed for the day.
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading Five more minutes and school would be dismissed for the day.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.
exert pressure or force to or upon
From this reading Press day!
an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling
From this reading Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.
an educational institution
From this reading Five more minutes and school would be dismissed for the day.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading _The Weekly Herald_ Thursday!
the plural of “that”: the people or things further away, or already known
From this reading How those minutes dragged.
the fifth day of the week; the fourth working day
From this reading _The Weekly Herald_ Thursday!
an architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure
From this reading Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.
past form of “watch” — look attentively
From this reading Helen Blair anxiously watched the clock on the wall of the assembly room.
a periodical that is published every week (or 52 issues per year)
From this reading _The Weekly Herald_ Thursday!
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading Five more minutes and school would be dismissed for the day.
Chapter 1 of Helen in the Editor's Chair by Ruthe S. Wheeler holds 107 sentences, grouped into 22 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 107 sentences of Helen in the Editor's Chair, unabridged, divided into 22 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Helen in the Editor's Chair by Ruthe S. Wheeler exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 107 sentences, grouped into 22 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 22 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 22 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 Helen in the Editor's Chair by Ruthe S. Wheeler on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2964 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #42015 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #42015, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 247 minutes of reading across 593 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Helen in the Editor's Chair section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 15 chapters of Helen in the Editor's Chair 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 Helen in the Editor's Chair, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
