Chapter 1 of The Club of Queer Trades is here in full — 476 sentences across 96 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Club of Queer Trades is here in full — 476 sentences across 96 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Something. Preposterous.” We shook our heads gently. Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration. It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
Chapter 1 of The Club of Queer Trades is here in full — 476 sentences across 96 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 19/95 · 5 reading units · Lines 91–95
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.
any of several Old World tropical aromatic annual or perennial herbs of the genus Ocimum
From this reading “Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.”
consisting of small disconnected parts
From this reading “Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.”
known widely and usually unfavorably
From this reading “It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.”
for the most part
From this reading “Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.”
possessive form of “major” — a commissioned military officer in the United States Army or Air Force or Marines; below lieutenant colonel and above captain
From this reading “Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.”
a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
From this reading “Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.”
past form of “piece” — to join or unite the pieces of
From this reading “Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.”
so unreasonable as to invite derision
From this reading “Preposterous.””
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 Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
any of several Old World tropical aromatic annual or perennial herbs of the genus Ocimum
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
a small piece or quantity of something
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
an orange of low brightness and saturation
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
past form of “endure” — put up with something or somebody unpleasant
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
(of persons) excessively affected by emotion
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
consisting of small disconnected parts
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
in a gradual manner
From this reading We shook our heads gently.
let have
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
plural of “head” — the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading We shook our heads gently.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
known widely and usually unfavorably
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
for the most part
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
of greater importance or stature or rank
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
possessive form of “major” — a commissioned military officer in the United States Army or Air Force or Marines; below lieutenant colonel and above captain
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading We shook our heads gently.
have ownership or possession of
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
past form of “piece” — to join or unite the pieces of
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
so unreasonable as to invite derision
From this reading Preposterous.”
a person who enjoys reading
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
from appearances alone
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
a disassembled barrel; the parts packed for storage or shipment
From this reading We shook our heads gently.
ready to fall asleep
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading Something.
a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
refer for judgment or consideration
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
express in words
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
for that reason; as a result
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
in contact with each other or in proximity
From this reading Bit by bit, and mainly by the seemingly sleepy assistance of Basil Grant, we pieced together the Major's fragmentary, but excited narration.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading We shook our heads gently.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
the words that are spoken
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading It would be infamous to submit the reader to what we endured; therefore I will tell the story of Major Brown in my own words.
Chapter 1 of The Club of Queer Trades by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton holds 476 sentences, grouped into 96 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 476 sentences of The Club of Queer Trades, unabridged, divided into 96 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Club of Queer Trades by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 476 sentences, grouped into 96 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 96 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 96 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 Club of Queer Trades by G. K. (Gilbert Keith) Chesterton on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2767 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1696 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1696, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 230 minutes of reading across 554 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Club of Queer Trades section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 6 chapters of The Club of Queer Trades 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 Club of Queer Trades, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
