Chapter 9 of Seventeen A Tale of Youth and Summer Time is here in full — 201 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter IX
Chapter 9 of Seventeen A Tale of Youth and Summer Time is here in full — 201 sentences across 41 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous. “Hyuh, Clem!” Clematis continued his deprecatory retreat. Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food. “Look, Clem,” he said.
Chapter 9 of Seventeen A Tale of Youth and Summer Time is here in full — 201 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.
any of various ornamental climbing plants of the genus Clematis usually having showy flowers
From this reading “Clematis continued his deprecatory retreat.”
relatively long in duration; tediously protracted
From this reading “Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.”
bite off very small pieces
From this reading “Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.”
adopted in order to deceive
From this reading “Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.”
(military) withdrawal of troops to a more favorable position to escape the enemy's superior forces or after a defeat
From this reading “Clematis continued his deprecatory retreat.”
a deceptive maneuver (especially to avoid capture)
From this reading “Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.”
appearing to be as specified; usually used as combining forms
From this reading ““Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.”
extremely poisonous or injurious; producing venom
From this reading ““Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.”
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 Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
any of various ornamental climbing plants of the genus Clematis usually having showy flowers
From this reading Clematis continued his deprecatory retreat.
without stop or interruption
From this reading Clematis continued his deprecatory retreat.
tending to diminish or disparage
From this reading Clematis continued his deprecatory retreat.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
relatively long in duration; tediously protracted
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
any substance that can be metabolized by an animal to give energy and build tissue
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
something acquired without compensation
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
the (prehensile) extremity of the superior limb
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
occupied or in the control of; often used in combination
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., “keep clean”
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading “Look, Clem,” he said.
bite off very small pieces
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
and nothing more
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
adopted in order to deceive
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
(military) withdrawal of troops to a more favorable position to escape the enemy's superior forces or after a defeat
From this reading Clematis continued his deprecatory retreat.
a deceptive maneuver (especially to avoid capture)
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
appearing to be as specified; usually used as combining forms
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
an event that accomplishes its intended purpose
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Thereupon William essayed a ruse--he pretended to nibble at something, and then extended his hand as if it held forth a gift of food.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
hard to endure
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
extremely poisonous or injurious; producing venom
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
in the company of; together with
From this reading “Hyuh, Clem!” said William, trying, with only fair success, to keep his voice from sounding venomous.
Chapter 9 of Seventeen A Tale of Youth and Summer Time by Booth Tarkington holds 201 sentences, grouped into 41 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 9 holds 201 sentences of Seventeen A Tale of Youth and Summer Time, unabridged, divided into 41 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 9 of Seventeen A Tale of Youth and Summer Time by Booth Tarkington exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 201 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 9 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 Seventeen A Tale of Youth and Summer Time by Booth Tarkington on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4225 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1611 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1611, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 352 minutes of reading across 845 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Seventeen A Tale of Youth and Summer Time section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 22 chapters of Seventeen A Tale of Youth and Summer Time 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 Seventeen A Tale of Youth and Summer Time, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
