Chapter 1 of Seeing the Elephant is here in full — 441 sentences across 89 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Seeing the Elephant is here in full — 441 sentences across 89 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE. THE AMATEUR DRAMA. BOSTON: GEO. M. BAKER & CO., 149 Washington Street. KILBURN & MALLORY, Sr.]
Chapter 1 of Seeing the Elephant is here in full — 441 sentences across 89 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/88 · 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.
someone who pursues a study or sport as a pastime
From this reading “THE AMATEUR DRAMA.”
someone who bakes commercially
From this reading “M. BAKER & CO., 149 Washington Street.”
state capital and largest city of Massachusetts; a major center for banking and financial services
From this reading “BOSTON: GEO.”
a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage
From this reading “THE AMATEUR DRAMA.”
any distinct time period in a sequence of events
From this reading “ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE.”
a thoroughfare (usually including sidewalks) that is lined with buildings
From this reading “M. BAKER & CO., 149 Washington Street.”
the capital of the United States in the District of Columbia and a tourist mecca; George Washington commissioned Charles L'Enfant to lay out the city in 1791
From this reading “M. BAKER & CO., 149 Washington Street.”
possessive form of “world” — everything that exists anywhere
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.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading M. BAKER & CO., 149 Washington Street.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE.
(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 ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE.
someone who pursues a study or sport as a pastime
From this reading THE AMATEUR DRAMA.
someone who bakes commercially
From this reading M. BAKER & CO., 149 Washington Street.
state capital and largest city of Massachusetts; a major center for banking and financial services
From this reading BOSTON: GEO.
an odorless very poisonous gas that is a product of incomplete combustion of carbon
From this reading M. BAKER & CO., 149 Washington Street.
a dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage
From this reading THE AMATEUR DRAMA.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BOSTON: GEO.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading KILBURN & MALLORY, Sr.]
the basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites (approximately 1.094 yards)
From this reading M. BAKER & CO., 149 Washington Street.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading KILBURN & MALLORY, Sr.]
a soft silver-white or yellowish metallic element of the alkali metal group; turns yellow in air; occurs in celestite and strontianite
From this reading KILBURN & MALLORY, Sr.]
any distinct time period in a sequence of events
From this reading ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE.
a thoroughfare (usually including sidewalks) that is lined with buildings
From this reading M. BAKER & CO., 149 Washington Street.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE.
the capital of the United States in the District of Columbia and a tourist mecca; George Washington commissioned Charles L'Enfant to lay out the city in 1791
From this reading M. BAKER & CO., 149 Washington Street.
possessive form of “world” — everything that exists anywhere
From this reading ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE.
Chapter 1 of Seeing the Elephant by George M. (George Melville) Baker holds 441 sentences, grouped into 89 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 441 sentences of Seeing the Elephant, unabridged, divided into 89 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Seeing the Elephant by George M. (George Melville) Baker exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 441 sentences, grouped into 89 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 89 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 89 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 Seeing the Elephant by George M. (George Melville) Baker on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 903 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #49281 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #49281, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 75 minutes of reading across 181 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Seeing the Elephant section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 2 chapters of Seeing the Elephant 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 Seeing the Elephant, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
