Chapter 8 of Quicksilver Sue is here in full — 202 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of Quicksilver Sue is here in full — 202 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE CIRCUS Tom was right. That moment was the turning-point for Sue Penrose. When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes. What did this all mean? There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
Chapter 8 of Quicksilver Sue is here in full — 202 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/40 · 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.
a travelling company of entertainers; including trained animals
From this reading “THE CIRCUS Tom was right.”
the act of grasping
From this reading “When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.”
plural of “face” — the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading “There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.”
descend in free fall under the influence of gravity
From this reading “When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.”
well known or easily recognized
From this reading “When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.”
any number of entities (members) considered as a unit
From this reading “When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.”
not disposed to cheat or defraud; not deceptive or fraudulent
From this reading “There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.”
institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against
From this reading “That moment was the turning-point for Sue Penrose.”
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 “There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.”
In this reading “When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.”
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.
from one side of something to the other
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
(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 What did this all mean?
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
a travelling company of entertainers; including trained animals
From this reading THE CIRCUS Tom was right.
rid of obstructions
From this reading There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
the act of grasping
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
dearly loved
From this reading There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading What did this all mean?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
opinion or judgment
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
plural of “face” — the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
descend in free fall under the influence of gravity
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
well known or easily recognized
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading That moment was the turning-point for Sue Penrose.
plural of “friend” — a person you know well and regard with affection and trust
From this reading There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
any number of entities (members) considered as a unit
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
the locus of feelings and intuitions
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
not disposed to cheat or defraud; not deceptive or fraudulent
From this reading There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
having or showing a tender and considerate and helpful nature; used especially of persons and their behavior
From this reading There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
mean or intend to express or convey
From this reading What did this all mean?
a particular point in time
From this reading That moment was the turning-point for Sue Penrose.
(used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
From this reading There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading That moment was the turning-point for Sue Penrose.
precisely, exactly
From this reading THE CIRCUS Tom was right.
cut with a saw
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
past form of “seem” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
institute legal proceedings against; file a suit against
From this reading That moment was the turning-point for Sue Penrose.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading That moment was the turning-point for Sue Penrose.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE CIRCUS Tom was right.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading What did this all mean?
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
male cat
From this reading THE CIRCUS Tom was right.
consistent with fact or reality; not false
From this reading There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading That moment was the turning-point for Sue Penrose.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading THE CIRCUS Tom was right.
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading What did this all mean?
at the time that
From this reading When she saw that group on the familiar door-step across the way, something seemed to clutch at her heart, something seemed to fall from her eyes.
in the company of; together with
From this reading There were her friends, her dear old friends, with their honest faces and their clear, kind, true eyes.
Chapter 8 of Quicksilver Sue by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards holds 202 sentences, grouped into 41 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 8 holds 202 sentences of Quicksilver Sue, unabridged, divided into 41 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of Quicksilver Sue by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 202 sentences, grouped into 41 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 41 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 41 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 8 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 Quicksilver Sue by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2143 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #42246 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #42246, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 178 minutes of reading across 429 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Quicksilver Sue section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 10 chapters of Quicksilver Sue 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 Quicksilver Sue, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
