Chapter 11 of Our Feathered Friends is here in full — 72 sentences across 15 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XI
Chapter 11 of Our Feathered Friends is here in full — 72 sentences across 15 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
SOME BIRDS WITH A BAD NAME. A good name is what we all want in this world. We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs. There are a few birds which have a bad name. Sometimes they deserve what is said of them, and sometimes they are quite innocent.
Chapter 11 of Our Feathered Friends is here in full — 72 sentences across 15 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/14 · 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 “back” — the posterior part of a human (or animal) body from the neck to the end of the spine
From this reading “We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.”
having undesirable or negative qualities
From this reading “SOME BIRDS WITH A BAD NAME.”
at or toward the back of something
From this reading “We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.”
plural of “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading “SOME BIRDS WITH A BAD NAME.”
be worthy or deserving
From this reading “Sometimes they deserve what is said of them, and sometimes they are quite innocent.”
free from evil or guilt
From this reading “Sometimes they deserve what is said of them, and sometimes they are quite innocent.”
on certain occasions or in certain cases but not always
From this reading “Sometimes they deserve what is said of them, and sometimes they are quite innocent.”
express in speech
From this reading “We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.”
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 “Sometimes they deserve what is said of them, and sometimes they are quite innocent.”
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 SOME BIRDS WITH A BAD NAME.
(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 A good name is what we all want in this world.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Sometimes they deserve what is said of them, and sometimes they are quite innocent.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading There are a few birds which have a bad name.
plural of “back” — the posterior part of a human (or animal) body from the neck to the end of the spine
From this reading We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.
having undesirable or negative qualities
From this reading SOME BIRDS WITH A BAD NAME.
at or toward the back of something
From this reading We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.
plural of “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading SOME BIRDS WITH A BAD NAME.
be worthy or deserving
From this reading Sometimes they deserve what is said of them, and sometimes they are quite innocent.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “a”; a small but indefinite number
From this reading There are a few birds which have a bad name.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading A good name is what we all want in this world.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading A good name is what we all want in this world.
free from evil or guilt
From this reading Sometimes they deserve what is said of them, and sometimes they are quite innocent.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading A good name is what we all want in this world.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading SOME BIRDS WITH A BAD NAME.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.
(plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively
From this reading We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.
to a degree (not used with a negative)
From this reading Sometimes they deserve what is said of them, and sometimes they are quite innocent.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading Sometimes they deserve what is said of them, and sometimes they are quite innocent.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading SOME BIRDS WITH A BAD NAME.
on certain occasions or in certain cases but not always
From this reading Sometimes they deserve what is said of them, and sometimes they are quite innocent.
express in speech
From this reading We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading Sometimes they deserve what is said of them, and sometimes they are quite innocent.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There are a few birds which have a bad name.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Sometimes they deserve what is said of them, and sometimes they are quite innocent.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading A good name is what we all want in this world.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.
feel or have a desire for; want strongly
From this reading A good name is what we all want in this world.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading A good name is what we all want in this world.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading We like to have people speak well of us behind our backs.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading A good name is what we all want in this world.
used to introduce a clause giving more about a thing just mentioned
From this reading There are a few birds which have a bad name.
in the company of; together with
From this reading SOME BIRDS WITH A BAD NAME.
everything that exists anywhere
From this reading A good name is what we all want in this world.
Chapter 11 of Our Feathered Friends by Elizabeth Grinnell holds 72 sentences, grouped into 15 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 11 holds 72 sentences of Our Feathered Friends, unabridged, divided into 15 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 11 of Our Feathered Friends by Elizabeth Grinnell exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 72 sentences, grouped into 15 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 15 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 15 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 11 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 Our Feathered Friends by Elizabeth Grinnell on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1879 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #64517 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #64517, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 156 minutes of reading across 376 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Our Feathered Friends section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 27 chapters of Our Feathered Friends 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 Our Feathered Friends, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
