Chapter 7 of Original Short Stories — Volume 12 is here in full — 208 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of Original Short Stories — Volume 12 is here in full — 208 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte. In despair the man tried to give her away. Nobody wanted her. Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont. Cocotte returned the same day.
Chapter 7 of Original Short Stories — Volume 12 is here in full — 208 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/41 · 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.
plural of “complaint” — an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining
From this reading “Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.”
recognizable; marked
From this reading “Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.”
a state in which all hope is lost or absent
From this reading “In despair the man tried to give her away.”
let fall to the ground
From this reading “Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.”
with impatience; in an impatient manner
From this reading “Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.”
having a systematic arrangement; especially having elements succeeding in order according to rule
From this reading “Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.”
relieve from
From this reading “Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.”
the driver of a team of horses doing hauling
From this reading “Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.”
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 Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading In despair the man tried to give her away.
a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money
From this reading Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.
plural of “complaint” — an often persistent bodily disorder or disease; a cause for complaining
From this reading Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading Cocotte returned the same day.
recognizable; marked
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
a state in which all hope is lost or absent
From this reading In despair the man tried to give her away.
let fall to the ground
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
after an unspecified period of time or an especially long delay
From this reading Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.
inflected form of “give” — cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.
cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading In despair the man tried to give her away.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading In despair the man tried to give her away.
with impatience; in an impatient manner
From this reading Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading In despair the man tried to give her away.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
fail to keep or to maintain; cease to have, either physically or in an abstract sense
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading In despair the man tried to give her away.
an artist of consummate skill
From this reading Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.
near in time or place or relationship
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
no person; not anyone
From this reading Nobody wanted her.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
having a systematic arrangement; especially having elements succeeding in order according to rule
From this reading Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.
not the same one or ones already mentioned or implied
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
the capital and largest city of France; and international center of culture and commerce
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
past form of “return” — go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before
From this reading Cocotte returned the same day.
relieve from
From this reading Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.
Identical; not different.
From this reading Cocotte returned the same day.
a place within a region identified relative to a center or reference location
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
the driver of a team of horses doing hauling
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
depleted of strength or energy
From this reading Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Finally the master, tired of complaints, impatiently ordered Francois to get rid of Cocotte.
tested and proved useful or correct
From this reading In despair the man tried to give her away.
desired or wished for or sought
From this reading Nobody wanted her.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
which person or people
From this reading Then he decided to lose her, and he gave her to a teamster, who was to drop her on the other side of Paris, near Joinville-le-Pont.
Chapter 7 of Original Short Stories — Volume 12 by Guy de Maupassant holds 208 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 7 holds 208 sentences of Original Short Stories — Volume 12, unabridged, divided into 42 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of Original Short Stories — Volume 12 by Guy de Maupassant exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 208 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 7 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 12 by Guy de Maupassant on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1445 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #3088 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #3088, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 120 minutes of reading across 289 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Original Short Stories — Volume 12 section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 7 chapters of Original Short Stories — Volume 12 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 12, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
