Chapter 4 of Spirits Do Return is here in full — 301 sentences across 61 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of Spirits Do Return is here in full — 301 sentences across 61 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE GHOST OF A WOMAN. I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing. “Printing! Dear sakes alive, man, I am no printer!” I exclaimed.
Chapter 4 of Spirits Do Return is here in full — 301 sentences across 61 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/60 · 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.
possessing life
From this reading “Dear sakes alive, man, I am no printer!””
about to be mentioned or specified
From this reading “I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.”
a mental representation of some haunting experience
From this reading “THE GHOST OF A WOMAN.”
a person who keeps watch over something or someone
From this reading “I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.”
a room where books are kept
From this reading “I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.”
someone whose occupation is printing
From this reading “Dear sakes alive, man, I am no printer!””
text handwritten in the style of printed matter
From this reading “I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.”
plural of “sake” — a reason for wanting something done
From this reading “Dear sakes alive, man, I am no printer!””
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 “I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.”
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 THE GHOST OF A WOMAN.
possessing life
From this reading Dear sakes alive, man, I am no printer!”
the form of “be” used with “I”
From this reading Dear sakes alive, man, I am no printer!”
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
dearly loved
From this reading Dear sakes alive, man, I am no printer!”
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
past form of “exclaim” — utter aloud; often with surprise, horror, or joy
From this reading I exclaimed.
about to be mentioned or specified
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
a mental representation of some haunting experience
From this reading THE GHOST OF A WOMAN.
a person who keeps watch over something or someone
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
go away from a place
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
a room where books are kept
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading Dear sakes alive, man, I am no printer!”
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
not any; not one
From this reading Dear sakes alive, man, I am no printer!”
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading THE GHOST OF A WOMAN.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
someone whose occupation is printing
From this reading Dear sakes alive, man, I am no printer!”
text handwritten in the style of printed matter
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
plural of “sake” — a reason for wanting something done
From this reading Dear sakes alive, man, I am no printer!”
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE GHOST OF A WOMAN.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
inflected form of “tell” — express in words
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading THE GHOST OF A WOMAN.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading I was told on the following morning, by the guard, that I would have to leave the library and do some printing.
Chapter 4 of Spirits Do Return by Ida Belle White holds 301 sentences, grouped into 61 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 4 holds 301 sentences of Spirits Do Return, unabridged, divided into 61 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of Spirits Do Return by Ida Belle White exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 301 sentences, grouped into 61 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 61 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 61 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 4 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 Spirits Do Return by Ida Belle White on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3810 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #57302 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #57302, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 317 minutes of reading across 762 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Spirits Do Return section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 23 chapters of Spirits Do Return 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 Spirits Do Return, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
