Chapter 2 of Owen's Fortune is here in full — 124 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter II
Chapter 2 of Owen's Fortune is here in full — 124 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
CHANGES. Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son. He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary. "Are you not well, father?" asked Owen, anxiously. "I have had a long walk, my son.
Chapter 2 of Owen's Fortune is here in full — 124 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/24 · 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.
with anxiety or apprehension
From this reading “"Are you not well, father?" asked Owen, anxiously.”
plural of “change” — an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another
From this reading “CHANGES.”
the opposition or dissimilarity of things that are compared
From this reading “Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.”
Welsh industrialist and social reformer who founded cooperative communities (1771-1858)
From this reading “"Are you not well, father?" asked Owen, anxiously.”
great in vertical dimension; high in stature
From this reading “Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.”
Having little thickness or extent.
From this reading “Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.”
the act of traveling by foot
From this reading “"I have had a long walk, my son.”
exhaust or get tired through overuse or great strain or stress
From this reading “He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.”
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 “He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.”
In this reading “"I have had a long walk, my son.”
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 Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.
with anxiety or apprehension
From this reading "Are you not well, father?" asked Owen, anxiously.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading "Are you not well, father?" asked Owen, anxiously.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
past form of “ask” — make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading "Are you not well, father?" asked Owen, anxiously.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
plural of “change” — an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another
From this reading CHANGES.
the opposition or dissimilarity of things that are compared
From this reading Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
past form of “enter” — to come or go into
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading "Are you not well, father?" asked Owen, anxiously.
start firing a weapon
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading "I have had a long walk, my son.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading "I have had a long walk, my son.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "I have had a long walk, my son.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading "I have had a long walk, my son.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.
a form of address for a man
From this reading Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading "I have had a long walk, my son.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading "Are you not well, father?" asked Owen, anxiously.
Welsh industrialist and social reformer who founded cooperative communities (1771-1858)
From this reading "Are you not well, father?" asked Owen, anxiously.
an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
the seventh and last day of the week; observed as the Sabbath by Jews and some Christians
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
without speed (“slow” is sometimes used informally for “slowly”)
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
a male human offspring
From this reading Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.
great in vertical dimension; high in stature
From this reading Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
Having little thickness or extent.
From this reading Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.
precisely as stated
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
the act of traveling by foot
From this reading "I have had a long walk, my son.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Mr. Hadleigh was a tall, thin, anxious-looking man, a great contrast to his son.
exhaust or get tired through overuse or great strain or stress
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
(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 "Are you not well, father?" asked Owen, anxiously.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading He entered the room slowly, and sat down in the arm-chair by the fire, as if he were very weary.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "Are you not well, father?" asked Owen, anxiously.
Chapter 2 of Owen's Fortune by Frederic, Mrs. West holds 124 sentences, grouped into 25 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 124 sentences of Owen's Fortune, unabridged, divided into 25 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of Owen's Fortune by Frederic, Mrs. West exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 124 sentences, grouped into 25 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 25 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 25 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 Owen's Fortune by Frederic, Mrs. West on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 825 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #36493 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #36493, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 68 minutes of reading across 165 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Owen's Fortune section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 6 chapters of Owen's Fortune 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 Owen's Fortune, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
