Chapter 17 of The dark mother is here in full — 408 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVII
Chapter 17 of The dark mother is here in full — 408 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
She left words to David. She did not help him find them. David took long selecting a place to sit. He took a chair and moved it and moved it again. He had to be in the right place for sitting: for talking, also.
Chapter 17 of The dark mother is here in full — 408 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/81 · 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.
a seat for one person, with a support for the back
From this reading “He took a chair and moved it and moved it again.”
patron saint of Wales (circa 520-600)
From this reading “She left words to David.”
give help or assistance; be of service
From this reading “She did not help him find them.”
being excited or provoked to the expression of an emotion
From this reading “He took a chair and moved it and moved it again.”
-ing form of “select” — pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading “David took long selecting a place to sit.”
be seated
From this reading “David took long selecting a place to sit.”
(photography) the act of assuming a certain position (as for a photograph or portrait)
From this reading “He had to be in the right place for sitting: for talking, also.”
an exchange of ideas via conversation
From this reading “He had to be in the right place for sitting: for talking, also.”
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 “He took a chair and moved it and moved it again.”
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 David took long selecting a place to sit.
anew
From this reading He took a chair and moved it and moved it again.
in addition
From this reading He had to be in the right place for sitting: for talking, also.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading He took a chair and moved it and moved it again.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading He had to be in the right place for sitting: for talking, also.
a seat for one person, with a support for the back
From this reading He took a chair and moved it and moved it again.
patron saint of Wales (circa 520-600)
From this reading She left words to David.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading She did not help him find them.
come upon, as if by accident; meet with
From this reading She did not help him find them.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading He had to be in the right place for sitting: for talking, also.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading He had to be in the right place for sitting: for talking, also.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He took a chair and moved it and moved it again.
give help or assistance; be of service
From this reading She did not help him find them.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading She did not help him find them.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading He had to be in the right place for sitting: for talking, also.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading He took a chair and moved it and moved it again.
location near or direction toward the left side; i.e. the side to the north when a person or object faces east
From this reading She left words to David.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading David took long selecting a place to sit.
being excited or provoked to the expression of an emotion
From this reading He took a chair and moved it and moved it again.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading She did not help him find them.
a point located with respect to surface features of some region
From this reading David took long selecting a place to sit.
precisely, exactly
From this reading He had to be in the right place for sitting: for talking, also.
-ing form of “select” — pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading David took long selecting a place to sit.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She left words to David.
be seated
From this reading David took long selecting a place to sit.
(photography) the act of assuming a certain position (as for a photograph or portrait)
From this reading He had to be in the right place for sitting: for talking, also.
an exchange of ideas via conversation
From this reading He had to be in the right place for sitting: for talking, also.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading He had to be in the right place for sitting: for talking, also.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading She did not help him find them.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading She left words to David.
inflected form of “take” — carry out
From this reading David took long selecting a place to sit.
the words that are spoken
From this reading She left words to David.
Chapter 17 of The dark mother by Waldo David Frank holds 408 sentences, grouped into 82 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 17 holds 408 sentences of The dark mother, unabridged, divided into 82 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 17 of The dark mother by Waldo David Frank exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 408 sentences, grouped into 82 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 82 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 82 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 dark mother by Waldo David Frank on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The dark mother section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of The dark mother 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 dark mother, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
