Chapter 8 of The Best Short Stories of 1918, and the Yearbook of the American Short is here in full — 409 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of The Best Short Stories of 1918, and the Yearbook of the American Short is here in full — 409 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
My name? Paul Brandon will do. My father was a Stepney coster. Mother? Oh, a half-caste Mandalay woman.
Chapter 8 of The Best Short Stories of 1918, and the Yearbook of the American Short is here in full — 409 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/81 · 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 male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading “My father was a Stepney coster.”
a city in central Myanmar to the north of Rangoon
From this reading “Oh, a half-caste Mandalay woman.”
a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading “Mother?”
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading “My name?”
United States feminist (1885-1977)
From this reading “Paul Brandon will do.”
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading “Oh, a half-caste Mandalay woman.”
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.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading My father was a Stepney coster.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Paul Brandon will do.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading My father was a Stepney coster.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading Paul Brandon will do.
a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading My father was a Stepney coster.
an offensive term for the offspring of parents of different racial groups or cultures
From this reading Oh, a half-caste Mandalay woman.
a city in central Myanmar to the north of Rangoon
From this reading Oh, a half-caste Mandalay woman.
a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading Mother?
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading My name?
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading My name?
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading Oh, a half-caste Mandalay woman.
United States feminist (1885-1977)
From this reading Paul Brandon will do.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading My father was a Stepney coster.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading My father was a Stepney coster.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading Paul Brandon will do.
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading Oh, a half-caste Mandalay woman.
Chapter 8 of The Best Short Stories of 1918, and the Yearbook of the American Short by Edward J. (Edward Joseph) [Editor] O'Brien holds 409 sentences, grouped into 82 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 8 holds 409 sentences of The Best Short Stories of 1918, and the Yearbook of the American Short, unabridged, divided into 82 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of The Best Short Stories of 1918, and the Yearbook of the American Short by Edward J. (Edward Joseph) [Editor] O'Brien exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 409 sentences, grouped into 82 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 82 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 82 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 8 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 Best Short Stories of 1918, and the Yearbook of the American Short by Edward J. (Edward Joseph) [Editor] O'Brien on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 15599 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #39635 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #39635, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 3120 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Best Short Stories of 1918, and the Yearbook of the American Short section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 38 chapters of The Best Short Stories of 1918, and the Yearbook of the American Short 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 Best Short Stories of 1918, and the Yearbook of the American Short, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
