Chapter 5 of Neighborhood Stories is here in full — 431 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of Neighborhood Stories is here in full — 431 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury. Excep’ Mis’ Toplady. She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin. And she says: “Oh, ladies. I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.”
Chapter 5 of Neighborhood Stories is here in full — 431 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/86 · 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.
brought into existence
From this reading “I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.””
a feeling of intense anger
From this reading “All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.”
plural of “lady” — a polite name for any woman
From this reading “All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.”
plural of “mi” — destruction of heart tissue resulting from obstruction of the blood supply to the heart muscle
From this reading “Excep’ Mis’ Toplady.”
a small piece of table linen that is used to wipe the mouth and to cover the lap in order to protect clothing
From this reading “She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.”
plural of “plate” — (baseball) base consisting of a rubber slab where the batter stands; it must be touched by a base runner in order to score
From this reading “All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.”
(usually plural) a fragment scraped off of something and collected
From this reading “All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.”
-ing form of “wipe” — rub with a circular motion
From this reading “She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.”
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.
In this reading “She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.”
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 She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.”
(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 All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading And she says: “Oh, ladies.
the -ing form of “be”
From this reading I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.”
brought into existence
From this reading I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Excep’ Mis’ Toplady.
opinion or judgment
From this reading She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.
mat together and make felt-like
From this reading I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.”
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.
a feeling of intense anger
From this reading All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.
characteristic of humanity
From this reading I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.”
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.”
plural of “lady” — a polite name for any woman
From this reading All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.
a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour
From this reading She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.
plural of “mi” — destruction of heart tissue resulting from obstruction of the blood supply to the heart muscle
From this reading Excep’ Mis’ Toplady.
to a great degree or extent
From this reading I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.”
a small piece of table linen that is used to wipe the mouth and to cover the lap in order to protect clothing
From this reading She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.”
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading And she says: “Oh, ladies.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.”
a material made of cellulose pulp derived mainly from wood or rags or certain grasses
From this reading She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.
plural of “plate” — (baseball) base consisting of a rubber slab where the batter stands; it must be touched by a base runner in order to score
From this reading All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.
plural of “say” — the chance to speak
From this reading And she says: “Oh, ladies.
(usually plural) a fragment scraped off of something and collected
From this reading All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.
from a time in the past until now
From this reading I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.”
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.”
Maintained an upright posture.
From this reading She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Excep’ Mis’ Toplady.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading I ain’t never felt so much like a human being since I was born one.”
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading All us ladies went to scraping up plates like fury.
-ing form of “wipe” — rub with a circular motion
From this reading She stood for a minute wiping her eyes on a paper napkin.
Chapter 5 of Neighborhood Stories by Zona Gale holds 431 sentences, grouped into 87 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 5 holds 431 sentences of Neighborhood Stories, unabridged, divided into 87 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of Neighborhood Stories by Zona Gale exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 431 sentences, grouped into 87 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 87 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 87 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 5 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 Neighborhood Stories by Zona Gale on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4241 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #52089 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #52089, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 353 minutes of reading across 849 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Neighborhood Stories section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 10 chapters of Neighborhood Stories 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 Neighborhood Stories, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
