Chapter 1 of The birds of Shakespeare is here in full — 374 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The birds of Shakespeare is here in full — 374 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON. _New York_, _The Macmillan Co._ _Toronto_, _The Macmillan Co. of Canada_. _London_, _Simpkin, Hamilton and Co._ _Cambridge_, _Macmillan and Bowes_. _Edinburgh_, _Douglas and Foulis_. _Sydney_, _Angus and Robertson_.
Chapter 1 of The birds of Shakespeare is here in full — 374 sentences across 75 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/74 · 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.
Celtic god of love and beauty; patron deity of young men and women
third-person singular of “bow” — bend one's knee or body, or lower one's head
a university in England
a nation in northern North America; the French were the first Europeans to settle in mainland Canada
the capital of Scotland; located in the Lothian Region on the south side of the Firth of Forth
United States basketball guard (born in 1938)
the largest Australian city located in southeastern Australia on the Tasman Sea; state capital of New South Wales; Australia's chief port
the provincial capital and largest city in Ontario (and the largest city in Canada)
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON.
Celtic god of love and beauty; patron deity of young men and women
From this reading _Sydney_, _Angus and Robertson_.
third-person singular of “bow” — bend one's knee or body, or lower one's head
From this reading _London_, _Simpkin, Hamilton and Co._ _Cambridge_, _Macmillan and Bowes_.
a university in England
From this reading _London_, _Simpkin, Hamilton and Co._ _Cambridge_, _Macmillan and Bowes_.
a nation in northern North America; the French were the first Europeans to settle in mainland Canada
From this reading _New York_, _The Macmillan Co._ _Toronto_, _The Macmillan Co. of Canada_.
an odorless very poisonous gas that is a product of incomplete combustion of carbon
From this reading MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON.
United States politician who proposed that individual territories be allowed to decide whether they would have slavery; he engaged in a famous series of debates with Abraham Lincoln (1813-1861)
From this reading _Edinburgh_, _Douglas and Foulis_.
the capital of Scotland; located in the Lothian Region on the south side of the Firth of Forth
From this reading _Edinburgh_, _Douglas and Foulis_.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _Edinburgh_, _Douglas and Foulis_.
Irish mathematician (1806-1865)
From this reading _London_, _Simpkin, Hamilton and Co._ _Cambridge_, _Macmillan and Bowes_.
the capital and largest city of England; located on the Thames in southeastern England; financial and industrial and cultural center
From this reading MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON.
not of long duration; having just (or relatively recently) come into being or been made or acquired or discovered
From this reading _New York_, _The Macmillan Co._ _Toronto_, _The Macmillan Co. of Canada_.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading _New York_, _The Macmillan Co._ _Toronto_, _The Macmillan Co. of Canada_.
United States basketball guard (born in 1938)
From this reading _Sydney_, _Angus and Robertson_.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading _London_, _Simpkin, Hamilton and Co._ _Cambridge_, _Macmillan and Bowes_.
the largest Australian city located in southeastern Australia on the Tasman Sea; state capital of New South Wales; Australia's chief port
From this reading _Sydney_, _Angus and Robertson_.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading _New York_, _The Macmillan Co._ _Toronto_, _The Macmillan Co. of Canada_.
the provincial capital and largest city in Ontario (and the largest city in Canada)
From this reading _New York_, _The Macmillan Co._ _Toronto_, _The Macmillan Co. of Canada_.
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 _New York_, _The Macmillan Co._ _Toronto_, _The Macmillan Co. of Canada_.
Chapter 1 of The birds of Shakespeare by Archibald Geikie holds 374 sentences, grouped into 75 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 374 sentences of The birds of Shakespeare, unabridged, divided into 75 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The birds of Shakespeare by Archibald Geikie exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 374 sentences, grouped into 75 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 75 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 75 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.
Common questions about reading The birds of Shakespeare by Archibald Geikie on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1140 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #73281 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #73281, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 95 minutes of reading across 228 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The birds of Shakespeare section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 3 chapters of The birds of Shakespeare 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 birds of Shakespeare, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
