Chapter 17 of The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan is here in full — 394 sentences across 79 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVII
Chapter 17 of The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan is here in full — 394 sentences across 79 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
GROS. Yes, Patience, I am much taller and much stouter than I was. PATIENCE And how you've improved! GROS. [dropping her hands and turning] Yes, Patience, I am very beautiful! [Sighs.]
Chapter 17 of The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan is here in full — 394 sentences across 79 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/78 · 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.
delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration
From this reading “GROS. [dropping her hands and turning] Yes, Patience, I am very beautiful!”
coming down freely under the influence of gravity
From this reading “GROS. [dropping her hands and turning] Yes, Patience, I am very beautiful!”
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading “GROS. [dropping her hands and turning] Yes, Patience, I am very beautiful!”
made more desirable or valuable or profitable; especially made ready for use or marketing
From this reading “PATIENCE And how you've improved!”
good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence
From this reading “Yes, Patience, I am much taller and much stouter than I was.”
plural of “sigh” — an utterance made by exhaling audibly
From this reading “[Sighs.]”
comparative of “tall” — great in vertical dimension; high in stature
From this reading “Yes, Patience, I am much taller and much stouter than I was.”
the act of changing or reversing the direction of the course
From this reading “GROS. [dropping her hands and turning] Yes, Patience, I am very beautiful!”
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.
the form of “be” used with “I”
From this reading Yes, Patience, I am much taller and much stouter than I was.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Yes, Patience, I am much taller and much stouter than I was.
delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration
From this reading GROS. [dropping her hands and turning] Yes, Patience, I am very beautiful!
coming down freely under the influence of gravity
From this reading GROS. [dropping her hands and turning] Yes, Patience, I am very beautiful!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading GROS.
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading GROS. [dropping her hands and turning] Yes, Patience, I am very beautiful!
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading GROS. [dropping her hands and turning] Yes, Patience, I am very beautiful!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading PATIENCE And how you've improved!
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Yes, Patience, I am much taller and much stouter than I was.
made more desirable or valuable or profitable; especially made ready for use or marketing
From this reading PATIENCE And how you've improved!
to a great degree or extent
From this reading Yes, Patience, I am much taller and much stouter than I was.
good-natured tolerance of delay or incompetence
From this reading Yes, Patience, I am much taller and much stouter than I was.
plural of “sigh” — an utterance made by exhaling audibly
From this reading [Sighs.]
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Yes, Patience, I am much taller and much stouter than I was.
comparative of “tall” — great in vertical dimension; high in stature
From this reading Yes, Patience, I am much taller and much stouter than I was.
used to introduce the second part of a comparison
From this reading Yes, Patience, I am much taller and much stouter than I was.
the act of changing or reversing the direction of the course
From this reading GROS. [dropping her hands and turning] Yes, Patience, I am very beautiful!
precisely as stated
From this reading GROS. [dropping her hands and turning] Yes, Patience, I am very beautiful!
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Yes, Patience, I am much taller and much stouter than I was.
an affirmative
From this reading Yes, Patience, I am much taller and much stouter than I was.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading PATIENCE And how you've improved!
Chapter 17 of The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan by Arthur Sullivan holds 394 sentences, grouped into 79 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 17 holds 394 sentences of The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan, unabridged, divided into 79 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 17 of The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan by Arthur Sullivan exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 394 sentences, grouped into 79 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 79 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 79 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 17 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 Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan by Arthur Sullivan on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 7513 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #808 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #808, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1503 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 18 chapters of The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan 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 Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
