Chapter 14 of Sans-Cravate is here in full — 403 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XIV
Chapter 14 of Sans-Cravate is here in full — 403 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette." "Really?" "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!" "Ha! ha! charming! delicious!" The little man twisted himself about in an easy-chair, and laughed till he cried.
Chapter 14 of Sans-Cravate is here in full — 403 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/80 · 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.
the act of putting a person into a non-elective position
From this reading “"Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."”
past form of “arrest” — take into custody
From this reading “"We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"”
pleasing or delighting
From this reading “"Ha! ha! charming! delicious!"”
greatly pleasing or entertaining
From this reading “"Ha! ha! charming! delicious!"”
a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter
From this reading “"We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"”
used when we are both doing the action and receiving it
From this reading “"We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"”
concerned with actual use or practice
From this reading “"We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"”
having an intended meaning altered or misrepresented
From this reading “The little man twisted himself about in an easy-chair, and laughed till he cried.”
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.
a prank or trick played on a person (especially one intended to make the victim appear foolish)
In this reading “"We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"”
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 "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading The little man twisted himself about in an easy-chair, and laughed till he cried.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading The little man twisted himself about in an easy-chair, and laughed till he cried.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
the act of putting a person into a non-elective position
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
past form of “arrest” — take into custody
From this reading "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
for the reason that
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
pleasing or delighting
From this reading "Ha! ha! charming! delicious!"
inflected form of “cry” — utter a sudden loud cry
From this reading The little man twisted himself about in an easy-chair, and laughed till he cried.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
greatly pleasing or entertaining
From this reading "Ha! ha! charming! delicious!"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The little man twisted himself about in an easy-chair, and laughed till he cried.
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
a military facility that serves as the headquarters for military police and in which military prisoners can be detained
From this reading "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
(astronomy) the angular distance of a celestial point measured westward along the celestial equator from the zenith crossing; the right ascension for an observer at a particular location and time of day
From this reading "Ha! ha! charming! delicious!"
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The little man twisted himself about in an easy-chair, and laughed till he cried.
used when the man or boy doing the action is also its object
From this reading The little man twisted himself about in an easy-chair, and laughed till he cried.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
a humorous anecdote or remark intended to provoke laughter
From this reading "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
past form of “laugh” — produce laughter
From this reading The little man twisted himself about in an easy-chair, and laughed till he cried.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading The little man twisted himself about in an easy-chair, and laughed till he cried.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading The little man twisted himself about in an easy-chair, and laughed till he cried.
inflected form of “mean” — mean or intend to express or convey
From this reading "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
used when we are both doing the action and receiving it
From this reading "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
participate in games or sport
From this reading "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
concerned with actual use or practice
From this reading "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
in accordance with truth or fact or reality
From this reading "Really?"
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
up to a particular time
From this reading The little man twisted himself about in an easy-chair, and laughed till he cried.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
having an intended meaning altered or misrepresented
From this reading The little man twisted himself about in an easy-chair, and laughed till he cried.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading "We meant to play a practical joke on you, and we got ourselves arrested and put in the guardhouse!"
which person or people
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
in the company of; together with
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "Parbleu! because it was Mouillot, Balivan, Célestin, and I who made the appointment with you through Bastringuette."
Chapter 14 of Sans-Cravate by Paul de Kock holds 403 sentences, grouped into 81 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 14 holds 403 sentences of Sans-Cravate, unabridged, divided into 81 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 14 of Sans-Cravate by Paul de Kock exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 403 sentences, grouped into 81 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 81 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 81 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 14 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 Sans-Cravate by Paul de Kock on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 11584 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #38001 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #38001, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2317 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Sans-Cravate section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 29 chapters of Sans-Cravate 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 Sans-Cravate, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
