Chapter 2 of John Bull, Junior is here in full — 395 sentences across 79 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of John Bull, Junior is here in full — 395 sentences across 79 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
I open the window. It is raining a thick, drizzling rain. Not a soul in the road. A most solemn, awful solitude. Horrible!
Chapter 2 of John Bull, Junior is here in full — 395 sentences across 79 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/79 · 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.
exceptionally bad or displeasing
From this reading “A most solemn, awful solitude.”
(of rain) falling lightly in very small drops
From this reading “It is raining a thick, drizzling rain.”
provoking horror
From this reading “Horrible!”
water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere
From this reading “It is raining a thick, drizzling rain.”
falling in drops or as if falling like rain
From this reading “It is raining a thick, drizzling rain.”
dignified and somber in manner or character and committed to keeping promises
From this reading “A most solemn, awful solitude.”
a state of social isolation
From this reading “A most solemn, awful solitude.”
not thin; of a specific thickness or of relatively great extent from one surface to the opposite usually in the smallest of the three solid dimensions
From this reading “It is raining a thick, drizzling rain.”
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 “A most solemn, awful solitude.”
In this reading “I open the window.”
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 It is raining a thick, drizzling rain.
exceptionally bad or displeasing
From this reading A most solemn, awful solitude.
(of rain) falling lightly in very small drops
From this reading It is raining a thick, drizzling rain.
provoking horror
From this reading Horrible!
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I open the window.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Not a soul in the road.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It is raining a thick, drizzling rain.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It is raining a thick, drizzling rain.
used to form the superlative
From this reading A most solemn, awful solitude.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading Not a soul in the road.
To move from a closed position.
From this reading I open the window.
water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere
From this reading It is raining a thick, drizzling rain.
falling in drops or as if falling like rain
From this reading It is raining a thick, drizzling rain.
an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation
From this reading Not a soul in the road.
dignified and somber in manner or character and committed to keeping promises
From this reading A most solemn, awful solitude.
a state of social isolation
From this reading A most solemn, awful solitude.
the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life
From this reading Not a soul in the road.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading I open the window.
not thin; of a specific thickness or of relatively great extent from one surface to the opposite usually in the smallest of the three solid dimensions
From this reading It is raining a thick, drizzling rain.
a framework of wood or metal that contains a glass windowpane and is built into a wall or roof to admit light or air
From this reading I open the window.
Chapter 2 of John Bull, Junior by Max O'Rell holds 395 sentences, grouped into 79 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 2 holds 395 sentences of John Bull, Junior, unabridged, divided into 79 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of John Bull, Junior by Max O'Rell exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 395 sentences, grouped into 79 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 79 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 79 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 2 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 John Bull, Junior by Max O'Rell on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1980 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #33564 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #33564, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 165 minutes of reading across 396 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through John Bull, Junior section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 5 chapters of John Bull, Junior 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 John Bull, Junior, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
