Chapter 1 of The Courage of the Commonplace is here in full — 569 sentences across 114 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Courage of the Commonplace is here in full — 569 sentences across 114 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Then: "They must be about all there," she spoke, leaning out. "A full fifty feet square of dear frightened laddies. There's Brant, coming across the campus. He looks as if he was going to make some one president. I suppose he feels so.
Chapter 1 of The Courage of the Commonplace is here in full — 569 sentences across 114 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 14/113 · 5 reading units · Lines 66–70
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.
small dark geese that breed in the north and migrate southward
From this reading “There's Brant, coming across the campus.”
a field on which the buildings of a university are situated
From this reading “There's Brant, coming across the campus.”
plural of “feel” — an intuitive awareness
From this reading “I suppose he feels so.”
the cardinal number that is the product of ten and five
From this reading “"A full fifty feet square of dear frightened laddies.”
made afraid
From this reading “"A full fifty feet square of dear frightened laddies.”
departing or being caused to depart from the true vertical or horizontal
From this reading “Then: "They must be about all there," she spoke, leaning out.”
an executive officer of a firm or corporation
From this reading “He looks as if he was going to make some one president.”
make square
From this reading “"A full fifty feet square of dear frightened laddies.”
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 "A full fifty feet square of dear frightened laddies.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading Then: "They must be about all there," she spoke, leaning out.
from one side of something to the other
From this reading There's Brant, coming across the campus.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading Then: "They must be about all there," she spoke, leaning out.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading He looks as if he was going to make some one president.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Then: "They must be about all there," she spoke, leaning out.
small dark geese that breed in the north and migrate southward
From this reading There's Brant, coming across the campus.
a field on which the buildings of a university are situated
From this reading There's Brant, coming across the campus.
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading There's Brant, coming across the campus.
dearly loved
From this reading "A full fifty feet square of dear frightened laddies.
plural of “feel” — an intuitive awareness
From this reading I suppose he feels so.
plural of “foot” — the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint
From this reading "A full fifty feet square of dear frightened laddies.
the cardinal number that is the product of ten and five
From this reading "A full fifty feet square of dear frightened laddies.
made afraid
From this reading "A full fifty feet square of dear frightened laddies.
containing as much or as many as is possible or normal
From this reading "A full fifty feet square of dear frightened laddies.
the act of departing
From this reading He looks as if he was going to make some one president.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He looks as if he was going to make some one president.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I suppose he feels so.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading He looks as if he was going to make some one president.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "A full fifty feet square of dear frightened laddies.
departing or being caused to depart from the true vertical or horizontal
From this reading Then: "They must be about all there," she spoke, leaning out.
plural of “look” — the feelings expressed on a person's face
From this reading He looks as if he was going to make some one president.
engage in
From this reading He looks as if he was going to make some one president.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading Then: "They must be about all there," she spoke, leaning out.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading "A full fifty feet square of dear frightened laddies.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading He looks as if he was going to make some one president.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Then: "They must be about all there," she spoke, leaning out.
an executive officer of a firm or corporation
From this reading He looks as if he was going to make some one president.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Then: "They must be about all there," she spoke, leaning out.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading I suppose he feels so.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading He looks as if he was going to make some one president.
support consisting of a radial member of a wheel joining the hub to the rim
From this reading Then: "They must be about all there," she spoke, leaning out.
make square
From this reading "A full fifty feet square of dear frightened laddies.
express a supposition
From this reading I suppose he feels so.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading There's Brant, coming across the campus.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Then: "They must be about all there," she spoke, leaning out.
in or at that place or location
From this reading Then: "They must be about all there," she spoke, leaning out.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading There's Brant, coming across the campus.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Then: "They must be about all there," she spoke, leaning out.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading He looks as if he was going to make some one president.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading He looks as if he was going to make some one president.
Chapter 1 of The Courage of the Commonplace by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews holds 569 sentences, grouped into 114 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 569 sentences of The Courage of the Commonplace, unabridged, divided into 114 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Courage of the Commonplace by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 569 sentences, grouped into 114 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 114 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 114 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 Courage of the Commonplace by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 569 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #5825 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #5825, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 47 minutes of reading across 114 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Courage of the Commonplace section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of The Courage of the Commonplace 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 Courage of the Commonplace, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
