Chapter 18 of The Ball of Fire is here in full — 146 sentences across 30 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVIII
Chapter 18 of The Ball of Fire is here in full — 146 sentences across 30 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK It was good to be home! Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends. She had grown world weary in all the false gaiety of New York! She was disillusioned! She was blasé.
Chapter 18 of The Ball of Fire is here in full — 146 sentences across 30 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/29 · 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.
(usually plural) everything that is included in a collection and that is held or included in something
From this reading “Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.”
freed from illusion
From this reading “She was disillusioned!”
not in accordance with the fact or reality or actuality
From this reading “She had grown world weary in all the false gaiety of New York!”
feeling or showing love and affection
From this reading “Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.”
a communication (usually brief) that is written or spoken or signaled
From this reading “THE MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK It was good to be home!”
a structure that provides privacy and protection from danger
From this reading “Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.”
exhaust or get tired through overuse or great strain or stress
From this reading “She had grown world weary in all the false gaiety of New York!”
past form of “wonder” — have a wish or desire to know something
From this reading “Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.”
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 “Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.”
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.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading She had grown world weary in all the false gaiety of New York!
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading THE MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK It was good to be home!
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading She was blasé.
(usually plural) everything that is included in a collection and that is held or included in something
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
freed from illusion
From this reading She was disillusioned!
at any time
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
not in accordance with the fact or reality or actuality
From this reading She had grown world weary in all the false gaiety of New York!
plural of “friend” — a person you know well and regard with affection and trust
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading THE MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK It was good to be home!
a gay feeling
From this reading She had grown world weary in all the false gaiety of New York!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading THE MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK It was good to be home!
(of animals) fully developed
From this reading She had grown world weary in all the false gaiety of New York!
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading She had grown world weary in all the false gaiety of New York!
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading THE MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK It was good to be home!
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading She had grown world weary in all the false gaiety of New York!
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading THE MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK It was good to be home!
feeling or showing love and affection
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “as” or “too” or “so” or “that”; amounting to a large but indefinite number
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
a communication (usually brief) that is written or spoken or signaled
From this reading THE MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK It was good to be home!
not of long duration; having just (or relatively recently) come into being or been made or acquired or discovered
From this reading THE MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK It was good to be home!
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
a structure that provides privacy and protection from danger
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK It was good to be home!
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading THE MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK It was good to be home!
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading THE MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK It was good to be home!
exhaust or get tired through overuse or great strain or stress
From this reading She had grown world weary in all the false gaiety of New York!
past form of “wonder” — have a wish or desire to know something
From this reading Gail wondered that she could ever have been content away from the loving shelter of her many, many friends.
everything that exists anywhere
From this reading She had grown world weary in all the false gaiety of New York!
the English royal house (a branch of the Plantagenet line) that reigned from 1461 to 1485; its emblem was a white rose
From this reading THE MESSAGE FROM NEW YORK It was good to be home!
Chapter 18 of The Ball of Fire by George Randolph Chester holds 146 sentences, grouped into 30 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 18 holds 146 sentences of The Ball of Fire, unabridged, divided into 30 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 18 of The Ball of Fire by George Randolph Chester exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 146 sentences, grouped into 30 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 30 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 30 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 18 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 Ball of Fire by George Randolph Chester on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5386 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #62653 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #62653, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 448 minutes of reading across 1078 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Ball of Fire section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 36 chapters of The Ball of Fire 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 Ball of Fire, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
