Chapter 5 of Original Short Stories — Volume 08 is here in full — 210 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of Original Short Stories — Volume 08 is here in full — 210 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
For two days he had eaten nothing. No one gave him anything now. Every one's patience was exhausted. Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming: “Be off with you, you good-for-nothing vagabond!
Chapter 5 of Original Short Stories — Volume 08 is here in full — 210 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/42 · 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.
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading “Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:”
plural of “doorstep” — the sill of a door; a horizontal piece of wood or stone that forms the bottom of a doorway and offers support when passing through a doorway
From this reading “Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:”
inflected form of “eat” — take in solid food
From this reading “For two days he had eaten nothing.”
drained of energy or effectiveness; extremely tired; completely exhausted
From this reading “Every one's patience was exhausted.”
good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence
From this reading “Every one's patience was exhausted.”
in a vehement outcry
From this reading “Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:”
anything that resembles a vagabond in having no fixed place
From this reading ““Be off with you, you good-for-nothing vagabond!”
plural of “woman” — an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading “Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:”
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.
any thing at all
From this reading No one gave him anything now.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading “Be off with you, you good-for-nothing vagabond!
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:
the time during which someone's life continues
From this reading For two days he had eaten nothing.
plural of “doorstep” — the sill of a door; a horizontal piece of wood or stone that forms the bottom of a doorway and offers support when passing through a doorway
From this reading Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:
inflected form of “eat” — take in solid food
From this reading For two days he had eaten nothing.
all the members of a group, with none left out
From this reading Every one's patience was exhausted.
drained of energy or effectiveness; extremely tired; completely exhausted
From this reading Every one's patience was exhausted.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading For two days he had eaten nothing.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:
inflected form of “give” — cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading No one gave him anything now.
an idle worthless person
From this reading “Be off with you, you good-for-nothing vagabond!
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading For two days he had eaten nothing.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading For two days he had eaten nothing.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading No one gave him anything now.
not any; not one
From this reading No one gave him anything now.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading For two days he had eaten nothing.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading No one gave him anything now.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading “Be off with you, you good-for-nothing vagabond!
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading No one gave him anything now.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Every one's patience was exhausted.
good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence
From this reading Every one's patience was exhausted.
cut with a saw
From this reading Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:
in a vehement outcry
From this reading Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading For two days he had eaten nothing.
anything that resembles a vagabond in having no fixed place
From this reading “Be off with you, you good-for-nothing vagabond!
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Every one's patience was exhausted.
at the time that
From this reading Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:
in the company of; together with
From this reading “Be off with you, you good-for-nothing vagabond!
plural of “woman” — an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading Women shouted to him from their doorsteps when they saw him coming:
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “Be off with you, you good-for-nothing vagabond!
Chapter 5 of Original Short Stories — Volume 08 by Guy de Maupassant holds 210 sentences, grouped into 42 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 210 sentences of Original Short Stories — Volume 08, unabridged, divided into 42 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of Original Short Stories — Volume 08 by Guy de Maupassant exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 210 sentences, grouped into 42 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 42 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 42 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 Original Short Stories — Volume 08 by Guy de Maupassant on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2624 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #3084 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #3084, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 218 minutes of reading across 525 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Original Short Stories — Volume 08 section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 13 chapters of Original Short Stories — Volume 08 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 Original Short Stories — Volume 08, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
