Chapter 1 of Strange stories of the Civil War is here in full — 440 sentences across 88 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Strange stories of the Civil War is here in full — 440 sentences across 88 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command! He wearily dropped from his horse. He went into the tent. The Captain of Company Q looked down upon the General’s peaceful face. III MIDSHIPMAN JACK, U.S.N.
Chapter 1 of Strange stories of the Civil War is here in full — 440 sentences across 88 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 63/88 · 5 reading units · Lines 311–315
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.
join the military
From this reading “To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!”
possessive form of “general” — a general officer of the highest rank
plural of “grade” — a body of students who are taught together
From this reading “To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!”
a temporary rank held by young naval officers in training
From this reading “III MIDSHIPMAN JACK, U.S.N.”
with patience; in a patient manner
From this reading “To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!”
not disturbed by strife or turmoil or war
From this reading “The Captain of Company Q looked down upon the General’s peaceful face.”
any of several noncommissioned officer ranks in the Army or Air Force or Marines ranking above a corporal
From this reading “To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!”
in a weary manner
From this reading “He wearily dropped from his horse.”
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.
to come or go into
In this reading “He went into the tent.”
In this reading “The Captain of Company Q looked down upon the General’s peaceful face.”
In this reading “He went into the tent.”
In this reading “He wearily dropped from his horse.”
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 To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
an officer holding a rank below a major but above a lieutenant
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
a commissioned military officer in the United States Army or Air Force or Marines who ranks above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier general
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
an authoritative direction or instruction to do something
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
an institution created to conduct business
From this reading The Captain of Company Q looked down upon the General’s peaceful face.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading The Captain of Company Q looked down upon the General’s peaceful face.
inflected form of “drop” — let fall to the ground
From this reading He wearily dropped from his horse.
join the military
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading The Captain of Company Q looked down upon the General’s peaceful face.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading He wearily dropped from his horse.
applying to all or most members of a category or group
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
possessive form of “general” — a general officer of the highest rank
From this reading The Captain of Company Q looked down upon the General’s peaceful face.
plural of “grade” — a body of students who are taught together
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He wearily dropped from his horse.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He wearily dropped from his horse.
solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times
From this reading He wearily dropped from his horse.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
From this reading III MIDSHIPMAN JACK, U.S.N.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
moving to the inside of something
From this reading He went into the tent.
a small worthless amount
From this reading III MIDSHIPMAN JACK, U.S.N.
a commissioned military officer
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading The Captain of Company Q looked down upon the General’s peaceful face.
a temporary rank held by young naval officers in training
From this reading III MIDSHIPMAN JACK, U.S.N.
a common nonmetallic element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless inert diatomic gas; constitutes 78 percent of the atmosphere by volume; a constituent of all living tissues
From this reading III MIDSHIPMAN JACK, U.S.N.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
with patience; in a patient manner
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
not disturbed by strife or turmoil or war
From this reading The Captain of Company Q looked down upon the General’s peaceful face.
confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
the 17th letter of the Roman alphabet
From this reading The Captain of Company Q looked down upon the General’s peaceful face.
1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
From this reading III MIDSHIPMAN JACK, U.S.N.
any of several noncommissioned officer ranks in the Army or Air Force or Marines ranking above a corporal
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
a portable shelter (usually of canvas stretched over supporting poles and fastened to the ground with ropes and pegs)
From this reading He went into the tent.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading He went into the tent.
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
a base containing nitrogen that is found in RNA (but not in DNA) and derived from pyrimidine; pairs with adenine
From this reading III MIDSHIPMAN JACK, U.S.N.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading The Captain of Company Q looked down upon the General’s peaceful face.
in a weary manner
From this reading He wearily dropped from his horse.
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading He went into the tent.
be the winner in a contest or competition; be victorious
From this reading To enlist as a private, to win patiently through grades of sergeant and lieutenant, to captain and colonel and general in command!
Chapter 1 of Strange stories of the Civil War by Robert Shackleton holds 440 sentences, grouped into 88 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 440 sentences of Strange stories of the Civil War, unabridged, divided into 88 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Strange stories of the Civil War by Robert Shackleton exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 440 sentences, grouped into 88 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 88 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 88 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.
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Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
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Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in Strange stories of the Civil War, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
