Chapter 7 of Penelope: A Comedy in Three Acts is here in full — 395 sentences across 79 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of Penelope: A Comedy in Three Acts is here in full — 395 sentences across 79 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal. DICKIE. My brain reels. MRS. GOLIGHTLY.
Chapter 7 of Penelope: A Comedy in Three Acts is here in full — 395 sentences across 79 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/79 · 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.
personal knowledge or information about someone or something
From this reading “A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.”
a position or opinion or judgment reached after consideration
From this reading “A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.”
a small third seat in the back of an old-fashioned two-seater
From this reading “DICKIE.”
as might be expected
From this reading “A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.”
having more than one mate at a time; used of relationships and individuals
From this reading “A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.”
plural of “race” — any competition
From this reading “A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.”
plural of “reel” — a roll of photographic film holding a series of frames to be projected by a movie projector
From this reading “My brain reels.”
(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
From this reading “A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.”
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 “A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.”
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 A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
personal knowledge or information about someone or something
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
that part of the central nervous system that includes all the higher nervous centers; enclosed within the skull; continuous with the spinal cord
From this reading My brain reels.
a position or opinion or judgment reached after consideration
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
a small third seat in the back of an old-fashioned two-seater
From this reading DICKIE.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading GOLIGHTLY.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
diode such that light emitted at a p-n junction is proportional to the bias current; color depends on the material used
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
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 A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
a form of address for a married woman
From this reading MRS.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading My brain reels.
as might be expected
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
having more than one mate at a time; used of relationships and individuals
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
plural of “race” — any competition
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
plural of “reel” — a roll of photographic film holding a series of frames to be projected by a movie projector
From this reading My brain reels.
(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
in the company of; together with
From this reading A long acquaintance with savage races has led me to the conclusion that man is naturally a polygamous animal.
Chapter 7 of Penelope: A Comedy in Three Acts by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham holds 395 sentences, grouped into 79 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 7 holds 395 sentences of Penelope: A Comedy in Three Acts, unabridged, divided into 79 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of Penelope: A Comedy in Three Acts by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 395 sentences, grouped into 79 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 79 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 79 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 Penelope: A Comedy in Three Acts by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3202 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #50180 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #50180, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 266 minutes of reading across 641 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Penelope: A Comedy in Three Acts section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 8 chapters of Penelope: A Comedy in Three Acts 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 Penelope: A Comedy in Three Acts, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
