Chapter 1 of Mimsy's Joke is here in full — 270 sentences across 54 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Mimsy's Joke is here in full — 270 sentences across 54 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Nance smiled foolishly. The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull. It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke. And wouldn't Nance's little cocker spaniel appreciate it most of all? He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
Chapter 1 of Mimsy's Joke is here in full — 270 sentences across 54 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/54 · 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.
a soft partly suppressed laugh
From this reading “It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.”
a small breed with wavy silky hair; originally developed in England
From this reading “And wouldn't Nance's little cocker spaniel appreciate it most of all?”
attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness
From this reading “He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.”
without good sense or judgment
From this reading “Nance smiled foolishly.”
a small reddish planet that is the 4th from the sun and is periodically visible to the naked eye; minerals rich in iron cover its surface and are responsible for its characteristic color
From this reading “The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.”
offensive term for a homosexual man
From this reading “Nance smiled foolishly.”
-ing form of “nibble” — bite off very small pieces
From this reading “He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.”
any of several breeds of small to medium-sized gun dogs with a long silky coat and long frilled ears
From this reading “And wouldn't Nance's little cocker spaniel appreciate it most of all?”
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.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.
recognize with gratitude; be grateful for
From this reading And wouldn't Nance's little cocker spaniel appreciate it most of all?
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
a soft partly suppressed laugh
From this reading It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.
a small breed with wavy silky hair; originally developed in England
From this reading And wouldn't Nance's little cocker spaniel appreciate it most of all?
attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness
From this reading He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
greatly pleasing or entertaining
From this reading It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.
lacking in liveliness or animation
From this reading The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.
the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
From this reading He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
the 3rd planet from the sun; the planet we live on
From this reading The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.
without good sense or judgment
From this reading Nance smiled foolishly.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.
shoot down, of birds
From this reading He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.
not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty
From this reading It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
beyond belief or understanding
From this reading It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.
a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter
From this reading It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading And wouldn't Nance's little cocker spaniel appreciate it most of all?
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.
the deliberate act of deviating from the truth
From this reading He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
a small reddish planet that is the 4th from the sun and is periodically visible to the naked eye; minerals rich in iron cover its surface and are responsible for its characteristic color
From this reading The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.
a communication (usually brief) that is written or spoken or signaled
From this reading He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
used to say something is possible but not certain
From this reading It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.
used to form the superlative
From this reading And wouldn't Nance's little cocker spaniel appreciate it most of all?
offensive term for a homosexual man
From this reading Nance smiled foolishly.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading And wouldn't Nance's little cocker spaniel appreciate it most of all?
-ing form of “nibble” — bite off very small pieces
From this reading He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading And wouldn't Nance's little cocker spaniel appreciate it most of all?
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.
above and across; more than
From this reading It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.
past form of “smile” — change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading Nance smiled foolishly.
any of several breeds of small to medium-sized gun dogs with a long silky coat and long frilled ears
From this reading And wouldn't Nance's little cocker spaniel appreciate it most of all?
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.
a journey for some purpose (usually including the return)
From this reading The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
(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 It might well be one long delicious chuckle over a great, grim and incredible joke.
at the time that
From this reading He was lying in the grass and his cute little cocker spaniel was nibbling on his ear when the message came.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The long trip back to Earth from Mars wouldn't be at all dull.
Chapter 1 of Mimsy's Joke by Millard Grimes holds 270 sentences, grouped into 54 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 1 holds 270 sentences of Mimsy's Joke, unabridged, divided into 54 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Mimsy's Joke by Millard Grimes exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 270 sentences, grouped into 54 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 54 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 54 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 1 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 Mimsy's Joke by Millard Grimes on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 270 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #63749 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #63749, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 22 minutes of reading across 54 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Mimsy's Joke section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of Mimsy's Joke 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 Mimsy's Joke, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
