Chapter 9 of The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett is here in full — 678 sentences across 136 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IX
Chapter 9 of The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett is here in full — 678 sentences across 136 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself: "Humph! You look older, my dear. You look more than nineteen and a half. You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?
Chapter 9 of The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett is here in full — 678 sentences across 136 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/135 · 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.
the largest city in Alabama; located in northeastern Alabama
From this reading “Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:”
(of materials or goods) brought to the desired final state
From this reading “You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?”
showing or causing joy and pleasure; especially made happy
From this reading “You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?”
temporary living quarters
From this reading “Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:”
plural of “month” — one of the twelve divisions of the calendar year
From this reading “You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?”
the cardinal number that is the sum of eighteen and one
From this reading “You look more than nineteen and a half.”
advanced in years; (“aged” is pronounced as two syllables)
From this reading “You look older, my dear.”
the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience
From this reading “Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:”
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 “You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?”
In this reading “Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:”
In this reading “You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?”
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 Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?
earlier than; in front of
From this reading Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
the largest city in Alabama; located in northeastern Alabama
From this reading Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
dearly loved
From this reading You look older, my dear.
(of materials or goods) brought to the desired final state
From this reading You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?
showing or causing joy and pleasure; especially made happy
From this reading You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?
consisting of one of two equivalent parts in value or quantity
From this reading You look more than nineteen and a half.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?
used when the woman or girl doing the action is also its object
From this reading Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Humph!
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
immediately past
From this reading You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?
temporary living quarters
From this reading Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading You look older, my dear.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
plural of “month” — one of the twelve divisions of the calendar year
From this reading You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading You look more than nineteen and a half.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading You look older, my dear.
the cardinal number that is the sum of eighteen and one
From this reading You look more than nineteen and a half.
advanced in years; (“aged” is pronounced as two syllables)
From this reading You look older, my dear.
on the contrary
From this reading You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?
the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience
From this reading Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
Maintained an upright posture.
From this reading Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
used to introduce the second part of a comparison
From this reading You look more than nineteen and a half.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
in spite of the fact that
From this reading You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
From this reading You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Sylvia stood before the looking-glass in the Birmingham lodgings and made a speech to herself:
in the company of; together with
From this reading You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading You look older, my dear.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading You're rather glad, though, aren't you, to have finished with the last three months?
Chapter 9 of The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett by Compton MacKenzie holds 678 sentences, grouped into 136 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 9 holds 678 sentences of The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, unabridged, divided into 136 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 9 of The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett by Compton MacKenzie exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 678 sentences, grouped into 136 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 136 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 136 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 9 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 Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett by Compton MacKenzie on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 9970 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #39527 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #39527, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1994 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 15 chapters of The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett 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 Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
