Chapter 30 of Main-Travelled Roads is here in full — 222 sentences across 45 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXX
Chapter 30 of Main-Travelled Roads is here in full — 222 sentences across 45 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"A swell! Well, who's got a better right? A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family." "Hello, Jim! That plug 'll never do."
Chapter 30 of Main-Travelled Roads is here in full — 222 sentences across 45 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/44 · 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.
(comparative of “good”) superior to another (of the same class or set or kind) in excellence or quality or desirability or suitability; more highly skilled than another
From this reading “Well, who's got a better right?”
plural of “come” — the thick white fluid containing spermatozoa that is ejaculated by the male genital tract
From this reading “A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."”
a social unit living together
From this reading “A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."”
an expression of greeting
From this reading “"Hello, Jim!”
where you live at a particular time
From this reading “A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."”
fill or close tightly with or as if with a plug
From this reading “That plug 'll never do."”
increase in size, magnitude, number, or intensity
From this reading “"A swell!”
plural of “want” — a state of extreme poverty
From this reading “A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."”
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 swell!
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."
(comparative of “good”) superior to another (of the same class or set or kind) in excellence or quality or desirability or suitability; more highly skilled than another
From this reading Well, who's got a better right?
to be able to, or to be allowed to
From this reading A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."
plural of “come” — the thick white fluid containing spermatozoa that is ejaculated by the male genital tract
From this reading A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading That plug 'll never do."
a social unit living together
From this reading A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading Well, who's got a better right?
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."
an expression of greeting
From this reading "Hello, Jim!
where you live at a particular time
From this reading A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Hello, Jim!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading That plug 'll never do."
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading That plug 'll never do."
fill or close tightly with or as if with a plug
From this reading That plug 'll never do."
precisely, exactly
From this reading Well, who's got a better right?
of the kind already mentioned
From this reading A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."
increase in size, magnitude, number, or intensity
From this reading "A swell!
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading That plug 'll never do."
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."
plural of “want” — a state of extreme poverty
From this reading A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading Well, who's got a better right?
at the time that
From this reading A man wants to look as well as he can when he comes home to such a family."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Well, who's got a better right?
Chapter 30 of Main-Travelled Roads by Hamlin Garland holds 222 sentences, grouped into 45 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 30 holds 222 sentences of Main-Travelled Roads, unabridged, divided into 45 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 30 of Main-Travelled Roads by Hamlin Garland exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 222 sentences, grouped into 45 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 45 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 45 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 30 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 Main-Travelled Roads by Hamlin Garland on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6662 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #2809 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #2809, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 555 minutes of reading across 1333 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Main-Travelled Roads section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 30 chapters of Main-Travelled Roads 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 Main-Travelled Roads, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
