Chapter 10 of Members of the Family is here in full — 365 sentences across 73 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter X
Chapter 10 of Members of the Family is here in full — 365 sentences across 73 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“Gracious! I thought everybody in this country knowed her. She’s an alfalfa widow.” “Well, I seem to have somehow missed her.” “She went down to town the other day.
Chapter 10 of Members of the Family is here in full — 365 sentences across 73 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/73 · 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.
important European leguminous forage plant with trifoliate leaves and blue-violet flowers grown widely as a pasture and hay crop
From this reading “She’s an alfalfa widow.””
every person
From this reading “I thought everybody in this country knowed her.”
characterized by charm, good taste, and generosity of spirit
From this reading ““Gracious!”
past form of “know” — be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading “I thought everybody in this country knowed her.”
not caught with the senses or the mind
From this reading ““Well, I seem to have somehow missed her.””
give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading ““Well, I seem to have somehow missed her.””
in some unspecified way or manner; or by some unspecified means
From this reading ““Well, I seem to have somehow missed her.””
a woman whose husband is dead especially one who has not remarried
From this reading “She’s an alfalfa widow.””
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.
move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way
In this reading ““She went down to town the other day.”
In this reading ““She went down to town the other day.”
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.
important European leguminous forage plant with trifoliate leaves and blue-violet flowers grown widely as a pasture and hay crop
From this reading She’s an alfalfa widow.”
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading She’s an alfalfa widow.”
a politically organized body of people under a single government
From this reading I thought everybody in this country knowed her.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading “She went down to town the other day.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading “She went down to town the other day.
every person
From this reading I thought everybody in this country knowed her.
characterized by charm, good taste, and generosity of spirit
From this reading “Gracious!
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading “Well, I seem to have somehow missed her.”
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading I thought everybody in this country knowed her.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I thought everybody in this country knowed her.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading I thought everybody in this country knowed her.
past form of “know” — be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading I thought everybody in this country knowed her.
not caught with the senses or the mind
From this reading “Well, I seem to have somehow missed her.”
not the same one or ones already mentioned or implied
From this reading “She went down to town the other day.
give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading “Well, I seem to have somehow missed her.”
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading “She went down to town the other day.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading She’s an alfalfa widow.”
in some unspecified way or manner; or by some unspecified means
From this reading “Well, I seem to have somehow missed her.”
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading “She went down to town the other day.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading I thought everybody in this country knowed her.
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading I thought everybody in this country knowed her.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “Well, I seem to have somehow missed her.”
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading “She went down to town the other day.
(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, I seem to have somehow missed her.”
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading “She went down to town the other day.
a woman whose husband is dead especially one who has not remarried
From this reading She’s an alfalfa widow.”
Chapter 10 of Members of the Family by Owen Wister holds 365 sentences, grouped into 73 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 10 holds 365 sentences of Members of the Family, unabridged, divided into 73 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 10 of Members of the Family by Owen Wister exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 365 sentences, grouped into 73 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 73 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 73 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 10 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 Members of the Family by Owen Wister on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4162 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #56717 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #56717, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 346 minutes of reading across 833 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Members of the Family section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 10 chapters of Members of the Family 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 Members of the Family, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
