Chapter 2 of John Marvel, Assistant is here in full — 419 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of John Marvel, Assistant is here in full — 419 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"Oh! Don't trouble yourself, I beg you." "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told. I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house. And as I left, I said, "I hope you will pardon my stupid mistake."
Chapter 2 of John Marvel, Assistant is here in full — 419 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/83 · 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.
call upon in supplication; entreat
From this reading “Don't trouble yourself, I beg you."”
with eagerness; in an eager manner
From this reading “I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.”
a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention
From this reading “And as I left, I said, "I hope you will pardon my stupid mistake."”
accept an excuse for
From this reading “And as I left, I said, "I hope you will pardon my stupid mistake."”
-ing form of “point” — indicate a place, direction, person, or thing; either spatially or figuratively
From this reading “I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.”
with sincerity; without pretense
From this reading “"It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.”
a flight of stairs or a flight of steps
From this reading “I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.”
lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity
From this reading “And as I left, I said, "I hope you will pardon my stupid mistake."”
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 “I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.”
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 I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading And as I left, I said, "I hope you will pardon my stupid mistake."
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.
call upon in supplication; entreat
From this reading Don't trouble yourself, I beg you."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Don't trouble yourself, I beg you."
with eagerness; in an eager manner
From this reading I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “a”; a small but indefinite number
From this reading I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.
headdress that protects the head from bad weather; has shaped crown and usually a brim
From this reading I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.
a specific instance of feeling hopeful
From this reading And as I left, I said, "I hope you will pardon my stupid mistake."
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Don't trouble yourself, I beg you."
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.
the superlative of “little” that can be used with mass nouns and is usually preceded by “the”; a quantifier meaning smallest in amount or extent or degree
From this reading "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.
location near or direction toward the left side; i.e. the side to the north when a person or object faces east
From this reading And as I left, I said, "I hope you will pardon my stupid mistake."
a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention
From this reading And as I left, I said, "I hope you will pardon my stupid mistake."
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading And as I left, I said, "I hope you will pardon my stupid mistake."
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading "Oh!
and nothing more
From this reading "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.
accept an excuse for
From this reading And as I left, I said, "I hope you will pardon my stupid mistake."
-ing form of “point” — indicate a place, direction, person, or thing; either spatially or figuratively
From this reading I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.
with sincerity; without pretense
From this reading "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.
a flight of stairs or a flight of steps
From this reading I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.
lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity
From this reading And as I left, I said, "I hope you will pardon my stupid mistake."
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.
inflected form of “tell” — express in words
From this reading "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.
a source of difficulty
From this reading Don't trouble yourself, I beg you."
a fact that has been verified
From this reading "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.
past form of “walk” — use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
From this reading I walked back a few steps, hat in hand, pointing eagerly to the house.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading "It is not the least trouble," I said sincerely, and it was the only truth I had told.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading And as I left, I said, "I hope you will pardon my stupid mistake."
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Don't trouble yourself, I beg you."
used when the person spoken to is also the object of the action
From this reading Don't trouble yourself, I beg you."
Chapter 2 of John Marvel, Assistant by Thomas Nelson Page holds 419 sentences, grouped into 84 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 419 sentences of John Marvel, Assistant, unabridged, divided into 84 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of John Marvel, Assistant by Thomas Nelson Page exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 419 sentences, grouped into 84 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 84 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 84 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 Marvel, Assistant by Thomas Nelson Page on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 8677 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #41817 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #41817, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1736 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through John Marvel, Assistant section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 21 chapters of John Marvel, Assistant 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 Marvel, Assistant, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
