Chapter 2 of North by night is here in full — 443 sentences across 89 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of North by night is here in full — 443 sentences across 89 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
One of the Rebels was very young. With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life. As he ran his shirt streamed out behind. He dropped his rifle and when he stopped to pick it up he dropped his blouse. When the boy’s face turned toward his pursuers Tim raised his pistol as if to shoot.
Chapter 2 of North by night is here in full — 443 sentences across 89 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/88 · 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.
unskillfulness resulting from a lack of training
From this reading “With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.”
a top worn by women
From this reading “With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.”
possessive form of “boy” — a youthful male person
plural of “pursuer” — a person who is pursuing and trying to overtake or capture
From this reading “When the boy’s face turned toward his pursuers Tim raised his pistol as if to shoot.”
plural of “rebel” — “Johnny” was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War; “greyback” derived from their grey Confederate uniforms
From this reading “One of the Rebels was very young.”
a garment worn on the upper half of the body
From this reading “With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.”
past form of “stream” — to extend, wave or float outward, as if in the wind
From this reading “As he ran his shirt streamed out behind.”
suggestive of youth; vigorous and fresh
From this reading “With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.”
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.
without delay or hesitation; with no time intervening
In this reading “With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.”
put clothing on one's body
In this reading “With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.”
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.
(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 With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading As he ran his shirt streamed out behind.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
unskillfulness resulting from a lack of training
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
at or toward the back of something
From this reading As he ran his shirt streamed out behind.
a top worn by women
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
possessive form of “boy” — a youthful male person
From this reading When the boy’s face turned toward his pursuers Tim raised his pistol as if to shoot.
inflected form of “drop” — let fall to the ground
From this reading He dropped his rifle and when he stopped to pick it up he dropped his blouse.
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading When the boy’s face turned toward his pursuers Tim raised his pistol as if to shoot.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., “keep clean”
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading When the boy’s face turned toward his pursuers Tim raised his pistol as if to shoot.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading He dropped his rifle and when he stopped to pick it up he dropped his blouse.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading One of the Rebels was very young.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
on one occasion
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading One of the Rebels was very young.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading As he ran his shirt streamed out behind.
select carefully from a group
From this reading He dropped his rifle and when he stopped to pick it up he dropped his blouse.
a firearm that is held and fired with one hand
From this reading When the boy’s face turned toward his pursuers Tim raised his pistol as if to shoot.
plural of “pursuer” — a person who is pursuing and trying to overtake or capture
From this reading When the boy’s face turned toward his pursuers Tim raised his pistol as if to shoot.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
located or moved above the surround or above the normal position
From this reading When the boy’s face turned toward his pursuers Tim raised his pistol as if to shoot.
inflected form of “run” — move fast by using one's feet, with one foot off the ground at any given time
From this reading As he ran his shirt streamed out behind.
plural of “rebel” — “Johnny” was applied as a nickname for Confederate soldiers by the Federal soldiers in the American Civil War; “greyback” derived from their grey Confederate uniforms
From this reading One of the Rebels was very young.
steal goods; take as spoils
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
move fast by using one's feet, with one foot off the ground at any given time
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
a garment worn on the upper half of the body
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
hit with a missile from a weapon
From this reading When the boy’s face turned toward his pursuers Tim raised his pistol as if to shoot.
(of a nose) blocked
From this reading He dropped his rifle and when he stopped to pick it up he dropped his blouse.
past form of “stream” — to extend, wave or float outward, as if in the wind
From this reading As he ran his shirt streamed out behind.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading One of the Rebels was very young.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading When the boy’s face turned toward his pursuers Tim raised his pistol as if to shoot.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
in the direction of
From this reading When the boy’s face turned toward his pursuers Tim raised his pistol as if to shoot.
hard to endure
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
moved around an axis or center
From this reading When the boy’s face turned toward his pursuers Tim raised his pistol as if to shoot.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading He dropped his rifle and when he stopped to pick it up he dropped his blouse.
precisely as stated
From this reading One of the Rebels was very young.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading One of the Rebels was very young.
at the time that
From this reading He dropped his rifle and when he stopped to pick it up he dropped his blouse.
in the company of; together with
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
(used of living things especially persons) in an early period of life or development or growth
From this reading One of the Rebels was very young.
suggestive of youth; vigorous and fresh
From this reading With youthful awkwardness he was trying all at once to put on his shirt, hold his blouse and rifle, and run for his life.
Chapter 2 of North by night by Peter Burchard holds 443 sentences, grouped into 89 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 443 sentences of North by night, unabridged, divided into 89 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of North by night by Peter Burchard exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 443 sentences, grouped into 89 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 89 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 89 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 North by night by Peter Burchard 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 North by night section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of North by night 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 North by night, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
