Chapter 1 of Punch — The London Charivari, October 28th 1893 is here in full — 615 sentences across 123 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Punch — The London Charivari, October 28th 1893 is here in full — 615 sentences across 123 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
MY LANDLORD. (_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie? The house well built! The soil so dry! My Landlord.
Chapter 1 of Punch — The London Charivari, October 28th 1893 is here in full — 615 sentences across 123 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/123 · 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.
in an absurd manner or to an absurd degree
From this reading “(_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?”
(used of soaps or cleaning agents) having a substance (an abrasive or filler) added to increase effectiveness
From this reading “The house well built!”
free from liquid or moisture; lacking natural or normal moisture or depleted of water; or no longer wet
From this reading “The soil so dry!”
a landowner who leases to others
From this reading “MY LANDLORD.”
be located or situated somewhere; occupy a certain position
From this reading “(_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?”
let for money
From this reading “(_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?”
the state of being covered with unclean things
From this reading “The soil so dry!”
someone who pays rent to use land or a building or a car that is owned by someone else
From this reading “(_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?”
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 (_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?
in an absurd manner or to an absurd degree
From this reading (_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?
past form of “ask” — make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading (_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading (_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?
(used of soaps or cleaning agents) having a substance (an abrasive or filler) added to increase effectiveness
From this reading The house well built!
showing who or what does the action
From this reading (_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?
free from liquid or moisture; lacking natural or normal moisture or depleted of water; or no longer wet
From this reading The soil so dry!
greater than normal in degree or intensity or amount
From this reading (_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading The house well built!
a landowner who leases to others
From this reading MY LANDLORD.
be located or situated somewhere; occupy a certain position
From this reading (_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading MY LANDLORD.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading (_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?
let for money
From this reading (_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading (_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading The soil so dry!
the state of being covered with unclean things
From this reading The soil so dry!
someone who pays rent to use land or a building or a car that is owned by someone else
From this reading (_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The house well built!
(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 The house well built!
which person or people
From this reading (_By a Tenant._) Who asked a rent absurdly high; Who never scrupled at a lie?
Chapter 1 of Punch — The London Charivari, October 28th 1893 by Various holds 615 sentences, grouped into 123 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 1 holds 615 sentences of Punch — The London Charivari, October 28th 1893, unabridged, divided into 123 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Punch — The London Charivari, October 28th 1893 by Various exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 615 sentences, grouped into 123 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 123 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 123 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 1 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 Punch — The London Charivari, October 28th 1893 by Various on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 615 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #39362 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #39362, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 51 minutes of reading across 123 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Punch — The London Charivari, October 28th 1893 section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of Punch — The London Charivari, October 28th 1893 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 Punch — The London Charivari, October 28th 1893, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
