Chapter 2 of Polite Conversation in Three Dialogues is here in full — 432 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter II
Chapter 2 of Polite Conversation in Three Dialogues is here in full — 432 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
_Ld. Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song? _Miss._ Indeed, my Lord, I can’t; for I have a great Cold. _Col._ Oh! Miss, they say, all good Singers have Colds.
Chapter 2 of Polite Conversation in Three Dialogues is here in full — 432 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/86 · 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.
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading “_Miss._ Indeed, my Lord, I can’t; for I have a great Cold.”
plural of “cold” — a mild viral infection involving the nose and respiratory passages (but not the lungs)
From this reading “Miss, they say, all good Singers have Colds.”
a feeling of favorable regard
From this reading “Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?”
in truth (often tends to intensify)
From this reading “_Miss._ Indeed, my Lord, I can’t; for I have a great Cold.”
terms referring to the Judeo-Christian God
From this reading “_Miss._ Indeed, my Lord, I can’t; for I have a great Cold.”
address a deity, a prophet, a saint or an object of worship; say a prayer
From this reading “Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?”
plural of “singer” — a person who sings
From this reading “Miss, they say, all good Singers have Colds.”
a short musical composition with words
From this reading “Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?”
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.
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 Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
(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 Miss, they say, all good Singers have Colds.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Miss._ Indeed, my Lord, I can’t; for I have a great Cold.
a pass between mountain peaks
From this reading _Col._ Oh!
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading _Miss._ Indeed, my Lord, I can’t; for I have a great Cold.
plural of “cold” — a mild viral infection involving the nose and respiratory passages (but not the lungs)
From this reading Miss, they say, all good Singers have Colds.
a feeling of favorable regard
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading _Miss._ Indeed, my Lord, I can’t; for I have a great Cold.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading _Miss._ Indeed, my Lord, I can’t; for I have a great Cold.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading _Miss._ Indeed, my Lord, I can’t; for I have a great Cold.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading _Miss._ Indeed, my Lord, I can’t; for I have a great Cold.
in truth (often tends to intensify)
From this reading _Miss._ Indeed, my Lord, I can’t; for I have a great Cold.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Ld.
terms referring to the Judeo-Christian God
From this reading _Miss._ Indeed, my Lord, I can’t; for I have a great Cold.
fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading _Miss._ Indeed, my Lord, I can’t; for I have a great Cold.
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading _Col._ Oh!
address a deity, a prophet, a saint or an object of worship; say a prayer
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
express in words
From this reading Miss, they say, all good Singers have Colds.
plural of “singer” — a person who sings
From this reading Miss, they say, all good Singers have Colds.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
a short musical composition with words
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Miss, they say, all good Singers have Colds.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
in the company of; together with
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Sparkish._ Pray, Miss, will you be so good as to favour us with a Song?
Chapter 2 of Polite Conversation in Three Dialogues by Jonathan Swift holds 432 sentences, grouped into 87 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 432 sentences of Polite Conversation in Three Dialogues, unabridged, divided into 87 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of Polite Conversation in Three Dialogues by Jonathan Swift exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 432 sentences, grouped into 87 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 87 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 87 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 Polite Conversation in Three Dialogues by Jonathan Swift on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2300 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #60186 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #60186, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 191 minutes of reading across 460 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Polite Conversation in Three Dialogues section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 5 chapters of Polite Conversation in Three Dialogues 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 Polite Conversation in Three Dialogues, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
