Chapter 2 of Mothers to Men is here in full — 425 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of Mothers to Men is here in full — 425 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"'Truly,' she said, 'haven't you any place to go to-night?' "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em. Do--do you?' "At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again. The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
Chapter 2 of Mothers to Men is here in full — 425 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/85 · 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.
inflected form of “blow” — exhale hard
From this reading “The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.”
the act of applying force in order to move something away
From this reading “The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.”
English poet (1554-1586)
From this reading “"At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.”
a pattern forming a unity within a larger structural whole
From this reading “The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.”
moving very fast
From this reading “"At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.”
in accordance with truth or fact or reality
From this reading “"'Truly,' she said, 'haven't you any place to go to-night?'”
plural of “want” — a state of extreme poverty
From this reading “"'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.”
air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure
From this reading “The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.”
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.
seek information from
In this reading “"At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.”
rise to one's feet
In this reading “The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.”
In this reading “The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.”
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 The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
from one side of something to the other
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
anew
From this reading "At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading "At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.
one or some or every or all without specification
From this reading "'Truly,' she said, 'haven't you any place to go to-night?'
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading "At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
inflected form of “blow” — exhale hard
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
a young person of either sex
From this reading "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading Do--do you?'
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading "At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.
a quad with a square body
From this reading "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.
opinion or judgment
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading "'Truly,' she said, 'haven't you any place to go to-night?'
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
a covering for the body (or parts of it) consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures (as on the human head); helps to prevent heat loss
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "'Truly,' she said, 'haven't you any place to go to-night?'
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., “keep clean”
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading "At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.
fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind
From this reading "At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.
a point located with respect to surface features of some region
From this reading "'Truly,' she said, 'haven't you any place to go to-night?'
the act of applying force in order to move something away
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading "'Truly,' she said, 'haven't you any place to go to-night?'
plural of “say” — the chance to speak
From this reading "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "'Truly,' she said, 'haven't you any place to go to-night?'
English poet (1554-1586)
From this reading "At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.
a pattern forming a unity within a larger structural whole
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
moving very fast
From this reading "At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading "At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading "'Truly,' she said, 'haven't you any place to go to-night?'
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "'Truly,' she said, 'haven't you any place to go to-night?'
inflected form of “take” — carry out
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
in accordance with truth or fact or reality
From this reading "'Truly,' she said, 'haven't you any place to go to-night?'
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading "At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading "At that Miss Sidney looked up at us, swift, and down again.
plural of “want” — a state of extreme poverty
From this reading "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.
air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure
From this reading The wind had took hold of a strand of her hair and blew it across her eyes, and she was pushing it away as she got up.
in the company of; together with
From this reading "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.
an affirmative
From this reading "'Oh, yes,' says the child, 'he says I must go with whoever wants me to go with 'em.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "'Truly,' she said, 'haven't you any place to go to-night?'
Chapter 2 of Mothers to Men by Zona Gale holds 425 sentences, grouped into 85 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 425 sentences of Mothers to Men, unabridged, divided into 85 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of Mothers to Men by Zona Gale exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 425 sentences, grouped into 85 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 85 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 85 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 Mothers to Men by Zona Gale on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4225 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #53650 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #53650, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 352 minutes of reading across 845 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Mothers to Men section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 10 chapters of Mothers to Men 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 Mothers to Men, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
