Chapter 1 of Scrambled World is here in full — 453 sentences across 91 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Scrambled World is here in full — 453 sentences across 91 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Redskins! Boston tealeggers! Jeep men! Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity. Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
Chapter 1 of Scrambled World is here in full — 453 sentences across 91 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/90 · 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.
-ing form of “battle” — battle or contend against in or as if in a battle
From this reading “Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.”
past form of “clutch” — take hold of; grab
From this reading “Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.”
relatively permanent disorder of the mind
From this reading “Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.”
a car suitable for traveling over rough terrain
From this reading “Jeep men!”
plural of “redskin” — (slang) offensive term for Native Americans
From this reading “Redskins!”
plural of “temple” — place of worship consisting of an edifice for the worship of a deity
From this reading “Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.”
a person who changes location
From this reading “Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.”
a rod used by a magician or water diviner
From this reading “Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.”
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 Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
-ing form of “battle” — battle or contend against in or as if in a battle
From this reading Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.
state capital and largest city of Massachusetts; a major center for banking and financial services
From this reading Boston tealeggers!
past form of “clutch” — take hold of; grab
From this reading Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.
in or associated with the process of passing from life or ceasing to be
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
someone who has exceptional intellectual ability and originality
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.
the aggregate of past events
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
relatively permanent disorder of the mind
From this reading Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.
a car suitable for traveling over rough terrain
From this reading Jeep men!
the force of workers available
From this reading Jeep men!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.
above and across; more than
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
past form of “produce” — bring forth or yield
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
plural of “redskin” — (slang) offensive term for Native Americans
From this reading Redskins!
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
the star that is the source of light and heat for the planets in the solar system
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Boston tealeggers!
plural of “temple” — place of worship consisting of an edifice for the worship of a deity
From this reading Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.
a person who changes location
From this reading Time traveler Devin Orth clutched his temples, battling insanity.
a rod used by a magician or water diviner
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
past form of “wave” — signal with the hands or nod
From this reading Some "genius" had waved a wand over Terran history and produced a-- The sun was dying.
Chapter 1 of Scrambled World by Basil Wells holds 453 sentences, grouped into 91 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 453 sentences of Scrambled World, unabridged, divided into 91 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Scrambled World by Basil Wells exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 453 sentences, grouped into 91 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 91 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 91 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 Scrambled World by Basil Wells on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 453 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #64172 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #64172, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 37 minutes of reading across 91 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Scrambled World section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of Scrambled World 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 Scrambled World, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
