Chapter 5 of Star of Mercia is here in full — 388 sentences across 78 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of Star of Mercia is here in full — 388 sentences across 78 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud. The Lady Edith gathered sorrel-leaves, and bound them about the heads of the bairns. "It is not enough," said she then. "They must have water." "There is no water here," Anflete my servant answered.
Chapter 5 of Star of Mercia is here in full — 388 sentences across 78 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/77 · 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.
confined by bonds
From this reading “The Lady Edith gathered sorrel-leaves, and bound them about the heads of the bairns.”
the process of taking in and expelling air during breathing
From this reading “The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.”
brought together in one place
From this reading “The Lady Edith gathered sorrel-leaves, and bound them about the heads of the bairns.”
plural of “head” — the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading “The Lady Edith gathered sorrel-leaves, and bound them about the heads of the bairns.”
characterized by or producing sound of great volume or intensity
From this reading “The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.”
a person working in the service of another (especially in the household)
From this reading “"There is no water here," Anflete my servant answered.”
showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness
From this reading “The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.”
not thin; of a specific thickness or of relatively great extent from one surface to the opposite usually in the smallest of the three solid dimensions
From this reading “The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.”
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.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading The Lady Edith gathered sorrel-leaves, and bound them about the heads of the bairns.
in addition
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "There is no water here," Anflete my servant answered.
past form of “answer” — react verbally
From this reading "There is no water here," Anflete my servant answered.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The Lady Edith gathered sorrel-leaves, and bound them about the heads of the bairns.
confined by bonds
From this reading The Lady Edith gathered sorrel-leaves, and bound them about the heads of the bairns.
the process of taking in and expelling air during breathing
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The Lady Edith gathered sorrel-leaves, and bound them about the heads of the bairns.
an adequate quantity; a quantity that is large enough to achieve a purpose
From this reading "It is not enough," said she then.
brought together in one place
From this reading The Lady Edith gathered sorrel-leaves, and bound them about the heads of the bairns.
a young female
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
plural of “head” — the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading The Lady Edith gathered sorrel-leaves, and bound them about the heads of the bairns.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading "There is no water here," Anflete my servant answered.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading "It is not enough," said she then.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading "It is not enough," said she then.
a polite name for any woman
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
characterized by or producing sound of great volume or intensity
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading "They must have water."
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
not any; not one
From this reading "There is no water here," Anflete my servant answered.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading "It is not enough," said she then.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The Lady Edith gathered sorrel-leaves, and bound them about the heads of the bairns.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
a person working in the service of another (especially in the household)
From this reading "There is no water here," Anflete my servant answered.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "It is not enough," said she then.
showing mental alertness and calculation and resourcefulness
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The Lady Edith gathered sorrel-leaves, and bound them about the heads of the bairns.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading The Lady Edith gathered sorrel-leaves, and bound them about the heads of the bairns.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading "It is not enough," said she then.
in or at that place or location
From this reading "There is no water here," Anflete my servant answered.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "They must have water."
not thin; of a specific thickness or of relatively great extent from one surface to the opposite usually in the smallest of the three solid dimensions
From this reading The girl said, "Lady, my head--great smart have I also!" and her breath came thick and loud.
binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent
From this reading "They must have water."
Chapter 5 of Star of Mercia by Blanche Devereux holds 388 sentences, grouped into 78 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 5 holds 388 sentences of Star of Mercia, unabridged, divided into 78 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of Star of Mercia by Blanche Devereux exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 388 sentences, grouped into 78 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 78 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 78 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 5 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 Star of Mercia by Blanche Devereux on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2450 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #39903 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #39903, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 204 minutes of reading across 490 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Star of Mercia section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 6 chapters of Star of Mercia 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 Star of Mercia, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
