Chapter 12 of The Carter Girls is here in full — 114 sentences across 23 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XII
Chapter 12 of The Carter Girls is here in full — 114 sentences across 23 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
HANTS. "Help! Help!" The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills. Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.
Chapter 12 of The Carter Girls is here in full — 114 sentences across 23 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/22 · 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.
inflected form of “awake” — stop sleeping
From this reading “Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.”
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 “Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.”
past form of “drown” — cover completely or make imperceptible
From this reading “The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.”
plural of “frog” — any of various tailless stout-bodied amphibians with long hind limbs for leaping; semiaquatic and terrestrial species
From this reading “The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.”
(Greek mythology) the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda who was abducted by Paris; the Greek army sailed to Troy to get her back which resulted in the Trojan War
From this reading “Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.”
your grandmother
From this reading “Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.”
sharp piercing cry
From this reading “The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.”
being excited or provoked to the expression of an emotion
From this reading “Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.”
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 “The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.”
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 The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
inflected form of “awake” — stop sleeping
From this reading Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
the two together, not just one
From this reading Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
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 Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.
past form of “drown” — cover completely or make imperceptible
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
past form of “follow” — to travel behind, go after, come after
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
plural of “frog” — any of various tailless stout-bodied amphibians with long hind limbs for leaping; semiaquatic and terrestrial species
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading HANTS.
(Greek mythology) the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda who was abducted by Paris; the Greek army sailed to Troy to get her back which resulted in the Trojan War
From this reading Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.
give help or assistance; be of service
From this reading "Help!
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.
your grandmother
From this reading Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.
sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
sharp piercing cry
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
a natural and periodic state of rest during which consciousness of the world is suspended
From this reading Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.
take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
From this reading Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.
being excited or provoked to the expression of an emotion
From this reading Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
a tall perennial woody plant having a main trunk and branches forming a distinct elevated crown; includes both gymnosperms and angiosperms
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The call was followed by a blood-curdling shriek that drowned the noise of tree frogs and whip-poor-wills.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Douglas and Nan both awoke with a start and Helen stirred in her sleep.
Chapter 12 of The Carter Girls by Nell Speed holds 114 sentences, grouped into 23 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 12 holds 114 sentences of The Carter Girls, unabridged, divided into 23 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 12 of The Carter Girls by Nell Speed exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 114 sentences, grouped into 23 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 23 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 23 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 12 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 Carter Girls by Nell Speed on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3402 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #40177 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #40177, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 283 minutes of reading across 681 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Carter Girls section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 21 chapters of The Carter Girls 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 Carter Girls, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
