Chapter 20 of John Brown: Confessions of a New Army Cadet is here in full — 325 sentences across 65 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XX
Chapter 20 of John Brown: Confessions of a New Army Cadet is here in full — 325 sentences across 65 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A JOLLY RAG. I. When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy. Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad. Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
Chapter 20 of John Brown: Confessions of a New Army Cadet is here in full — 325 sentences across 65 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/65 · 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.
declared but not proved
From this reading “Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.”
informal terms for a (young) woman
From this reading “When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy.”
plural of “exploit” — a notable achievement
From this reading “Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad.”
perennial plants having thick branching aromatic rhizomes and leafy reedlike stems
From this reading “Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.”
light informal conversation for social occasions
From this reading “Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.”
a chaplain in one of the military services
From this reading “Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.”
a small piece of cloth or paper
From this reading “A JOLLY RAG.”
gossip (usually a mixture of truth and untruth) passed around by word of mouth
From this reading “When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy.”
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 “Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.”
In this reading “When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy.”
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 A JOLLY RAG.
to or in a foreign country
From this reading Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad.
(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 When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy.
declared but not proved
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad.
the qualities that give pleasure to the senses
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad.
a short stout club used primarily by policemen
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
actively or fully engaged or occupied
From this reading When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy.
informal terms for a (young) woman
From this reading When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy.
divisible by two
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
plural of “exploit” — a notable achievement
From this reading Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad.
widely known and esteemed
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy.
perennial plants having thick branching aromatic rhizomes and leafy reedlike stems
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
the act of departing
From this reading Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad.
light informal conversation for social occasions
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
a building where travelers can pay for lodging and meals and other services
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad.
full of or showing high-spirited merriment
From this reading A JOLLY RAG.
plural of “lad” — a boy or man
From this reading Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad.
go away from a place
From this reading When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy.
the world of commercial activity where goods and services are bought and sold
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad.
a chaplain in one of the military services
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
a small piece of cloth or paper
From this reading A JOLLY RAG.
past form of “return” — go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before
From this reading When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy.
gossip (usually a mixture of truth and untruth) passed around by word of mouth
From this reading When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
inflected form of “see” — perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading Some of the lads had been going it, and their exploits had got abroad.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
at the time that
From this reading When all had returned from leave, Dame Rumour got busy.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Even Billy, the padre, was in the gossip–market, and Ginger was alleged to have been seen in a two–seater with the famous beauty from the hotel.
Chapter 20 of John Brown: Confessions of a New Army Cadet by R. W. Campbell holds 325 sentences, grouped into 65 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 20 holds 325 sentences of John Brown: Confessions of a New Army Cadet, unabridged, divided into 65 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 20 of John Brown: Confessions of a New Army Cadet by R. W. Campbell exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 325 sentences, grouped into 65 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 65 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 65 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 20 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.
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Project Gutenberg eBook #47391, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 368 minutes of reading across 884 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
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Words and structures a reader meets early in John Brown: Confessions of a New Army Cadet, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
