Chapter 1 of Opportunities is here in full — 410 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Opportunities is here in full — 410 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized. The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour. She was cloudy and captious to a degree that Matilda could not understand. The kitchen was hot; the butter was soft; the milk was turned; the bread was dry. All things went wrong.
Chapter 1 of Opportunities is here in full — 410 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/82 · 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.
having undergone the Christian ritual of baptism
From this reading “It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized.”
an edible emulsion of fat globules made by churning milk or cream; for cooking and table use
From this reading “The kitchen was hot; the butter was soft; the milk was turned; the bread was dry.”
lacking definite form or limits
From this reading “She was cloudy and captious to a degree that Matilda could not understand.”
a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling
From this reading “The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.”
a dark region of considerable extent on the surface of the moon
From this reading “The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.”
a white nutritious liquid secreted by mammals and used as food by human beings
From this reading “The kitchen was hot; the butter was soft; the milk was turned; the bread was dry.”
make ready or suitable or equip in advance for a particular purpose or for some use, event, etc
From this reading “The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.”
still in doubt
From this reading “The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.”
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 “The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.”
In this reading “All things went wrong.”
be unsuccessful
In this reading “All things went wrong.”
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 girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
later than; following
From this reading It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized.
(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 things went wrong.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading She was cloudy and captious to a degree that Matilda could not understand.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
having undergone the Christian ritual of baptism
From this reading It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized.
food made from dough of flour or meal and usually raised with yeast or baking powder and then baked
From this reading The kitchen was hot; the butter was soft; the milk was turned; the bread was dry.
eat an early morning meal
From this reading The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
an edible emulsion of fat globules made by churning milk or cream; for cooking and table use
From this reading The kitchen was hot; the butter was soft; the milk was turned; the bread was dry.
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
tending to find and call attention to faults
From this reading She was cloudy and captious to a degree that Matilda could not understand.
lacking definite form or limits
From this reading She was cloudy and captious to a degree that Matilda could not understand.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading She was cloudy and captious to a degree that Matilda could not understand.
a position on a scale of intensity or amount or quality
From this reading She was cloudy and captious to a degree that Matilda could not understand.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
free from liquid or moisture; lacking natural or normal moisture or depleted of water; or no longer wet
From this reading The kitchen was hot; the butter was soft; the milk was turned; the bread was dry.
plural of “girl” — a young female
From this reading The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized.
used of physical heat; having a high or higher than desirable temperature or giving off heat or feeling or causing a sensation of heat or burning
From this reading The kitchen was hot; the butter was soft; the milk was turned; the bread was dry.
a characteristic (habitual or relatively temporary) state of feeling
From this reading The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized.
a room equipped for preparing meals
From this reading The kitchen was hot; the butter was soft; the milk was turned; the bread was dry.
a dark region of considerable extent on the surface of the moon
From this reading The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized.
a white nutritious liquid secreted by mammals and used as food by human beings
From this reading The kitchen was hot; the butter was soft; the milk was turned; the bread was dry.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading She was cloudy and captious to a degree that Matilda could not understand.
make ready or suitable or equip in advance for a particular purpose or for some use, event, etc
From this reading The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She was cloudy and captious to a degree that Matilda could not understand.
yielding readily to pressure or weight
From this reading The kitchen was hot; the butter was soft; the milk was turned; the bread was dry.
first day of the week; observed as a day of rest and worship by most Christians
From this reading It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized.
any movable possession (especially articles of clothing)
From this reading All things went wrong.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
moved around an axis or center
From this reading The kitchen was hot; the butter was soft; the milk was turned; the bread was dry.
know and comprehend the nature or meaning of
From this reading She was cloudy and captious to a degree that Matilda could not understand.
still in doubt
From this reading The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
occurring or encountered or experienced or observed frequently or in accordance with regular practice or procedure
From this reading The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
precisely as stated
From this reading The girls came down to prepare breakfast as usual; Maria in a very unsettled humour.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized.
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading All things went wrong.
at the time that
From this reading It was the morning after that Sunday when Matilda had been baptized.
not correct; not in conformity with fact or truth
From this reading All things went wrong.
Chapter 1 of Opportunities by Susan Warner holds 410 sentences, grouped into 82 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 410 sentences of Opportunities, unabridged, divided into 82 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Opportunities by Susan Warner exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 410 sentences, grouped into 82 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 82 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 82 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 Opportunities by Susan Warner on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5036 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #30147 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #30147, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 419 minutes of reading across 1008 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Opportunities section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 12 chapters of Opportunities 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 Opportunities, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
