Chapter 2 of Masks, with Jim's beast, Tides, Among the lions, The reason, The house one is here in full — 379 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of Masks, with Jim's beast, Tides, Among the lions, The reason, The house one is here in full — 379 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her? TOM That isn’t my friend; that’s my wife. GRANT Your humor isn’t inspiring. I’ve heard that brilliant retort before. TOM Certainly.
Chapter 2 of Masks, with Jim's beast, Tides, Among the lions, The reason, The house one is here in full — 379 sentences across 76 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/75 · 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.
of surpassing excellence
From this reading “I’ve heard that brilliant retort before.”
not accessible to view
From this reading “GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?”
let have
From this reading “GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?”
a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter
From this reading “GRANT Your humor isn’t inspiring.”
stimulating or exalting to the spirit
From this reading “GRANT Your humor isn’t inspiring.”
bring forth or yield
From this reading “GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?”
a quick reply to a question or remark (especially a witty or critical one)
From this reading “I’ve heard that brilliant retort before.”
male cat
From this reading “TOM That isn’t my friend; that’s my wife.”
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.
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.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
earlier than; in front of
From this reading I’ve heard that brilliant retort before.
(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 GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
of surpassing excellence
From this reading I’ve heard that brilliant retort before.
definitely or positively (“sure” is sometimes used informally for “surely”)
From this reading TOM Certainly.
not accessible to view
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
a person you know well and regard with affection and trust
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
let have
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading I’ve heard that brilliant retort before.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
a message whose ingenuity or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter
From this reading GRANT Your humor isn’t inspiring.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I’ve heard that brilliant retort before.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
stimulating or exalting to the spirit
From this reading GRANT Your humor isn’t inspiring.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading TOM That isn’t my friend; that’s my wife.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading TOM That isn’t my friend; that’s my wife.
a human being
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
bring forth or yield
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
a quick reply to a question or remark (especially a witty or critical one)
From this reading I’ve heard that brilliant retort before.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading TOM That isn’t my friend; that’s my wife.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading TOM That isn’t my friend; that’s my wife.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
male cat
From this reading TOM That isn’t my friend; that’s my wife.
a married woman; a man's partner in marriage
From this reading TOM That isn’t my friend; that’s my wife.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading GRANT Then if you’ve some friend concealed about your person, hadn’t you better produce her?
Chapter 2 of Masks, with Jim's beast, Tides, Among the lions, The reason, The house one by George Middleton holds 379 sentences, grouped into 76 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 379 sentences of Masks, with Jim's beast, Tides, Among the lions, The reason, The house one, unabridged, divided into 76 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of Masks, with Jim's beast, Tides, Among the lions, The reason, The house one by George Middleton exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 379 sentences, grouped into 76 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 76 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 76 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 Masks, with Jim's beast, Tides, Among the lions, The reason, The house one by George Middleton on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Masks, with Jim's beast, Tides, Among the lions, The reason, The house one section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of Masks, with Jim's beast, Tides, Among the lions, The reason, The house one 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 Masks, with Jim's beast, Tides, Among the lions, The reason, The house one, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
