Chapter 17 of The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat is here in full — 44 sentences across 9 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVII
Chapter 17 of The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat is here in full — 44 sentences across 9 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Who had made the strange pond? That is what Spotty the Turtle wanted to know. That is what Billy Mink wanted to know. So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived. So did Ol' Mistah Buzzard, looking down from the blue, blue sky.
Chapter 17 of The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat is here in full — 44 sentences across 9 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/8 · 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.
a New World vulture that is common in South America and Central America and the southern United States
From this reading “So did Ol' Mistah Buzzard, looking down from the blue, blue sky.”
any of various tailless stout-bodied amphibians with long hind limbs for leaping; semiaquatic and terrestrial species
From this reading “So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.”
the expensive fur of a mink
From this reading “That is what Billy Mink wanted to know.”
the brown fur of a muskrat
From this reading “So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.”
the fur of an otter
From this reading “So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.”
a small lake
From this reading “Who had made the strange pond?”
having spots or patches (small areas of contrasting color or texture)
From this reading “That is what Spotty the Turtle wanted to know.”
a sweater or jersey with a high close-fitting collar
From this reading “That is what Spotty the Turtle wanted to know.”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.
past form of “arrive” — reach a destination; arrive by movement or progress
From this reading So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.
a short stout club used primarily by policemen
From this reading That is what Billy Mink wanted to know.
of the color intermediate between green and violet; having a color similar to that of a clear unclouded sky
From this reading So did Ol' Mistah Buzzard, looking down from the blue, blue sky.
a New World vulture that is common in South America and Central America and the southern United States
From this reading So did Ol' Mistah Buzzard, looking down from the blue, blue sky.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading So did Ol' Mistah Buzzard, looking down from the blue, blue sky.
any of various tailless stout-bodied amphibians with long hind limbs for leaping; semiaquatic and terrestrial species
From this reading So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading So did Ol' Mistah Buzzard, looking down from the blue, blue sky.
the father of your father or mother
From this reading So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Who had made the strange pond?
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading That is what Spotty the Turtle wanted to know.
offensive term for a person of German descent
From this reading So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading That is what Spotty the Turtle wanted to know.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.
the act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually
From this reading So did Ol' Mistah Buzzard, looking down from the blue, blue sky.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading Who had made the strange pond?
the expensive fur of a mink
From this reading That is what Billy Mink wanted to know.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading So did Ol' Mistah Buzzard, looking down from the blue, blue sky.
the brown fur of a muskrat
From this reading So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading So did Ol' Mistah Buzzard, looking down from the blue, blue sky.
the fur of an otter
From this reading So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.
a small lake
From this reading Who had made the strange pond?
the atmosphere and outer space as viewed from the earth
From this reading So did Ol' Mistah Buzzard, looking down from the blue, blue sky.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.
having spots or patches (small areas of contrasting color or texture)
From this reading That is what Spotty the Turtle wanted to know.
being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird
From this reading Who had made the strange pond?
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading That is what Spotty the Turtle wanted to know.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Who had made the strange pond?
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading That is what Spotty the Turtle wanted to know.
a sweater or jersey with a high close-fitting collar
From this reading That is what Spotty the Turtle wanted to know.
desired or wished for or sought
From this reading That is what Spotty the Turtle wanted to know.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading That is what Spotty the Turtle wanted to know.
at the time that
From this reading So did Little Joe Otter and Jerry Muskrat and Grandfather Frog, when they arrived.
which person or people
From this reading Who had made the strange pond?
Chapter 17 of The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat by Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess holds 44 sentences, grouped into 9 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 17 holds 44 sentences of The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat, unabridged, divided into 9 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 17 of The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat by Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 44 sentences, grouped into 9 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 9 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 9 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 17 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 The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat by Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 954 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #5110 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #5110, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 79 minutes of reading across 191 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 25 chapters of The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat 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 The Adventures of Jerry Muskrat, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
