Chapter 1 of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 366, January 1, 1887 is here in full — 12 sentences across 3 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 366, January 1, 1887 is here in full — 12 sentences across 3 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
NEW YEAR’S GIFTS. BY MARY ROWLES. “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do? How much of joy shall we find in you? In your wallet of blessings, all fresh and new, What fairy gifts are you bringing?”
Chapter 1 of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 366, January 1, 1887 is here in full — 12 sentences across 3 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/2 · 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.
plural of “bell” — a hollow device made of metal that makes a ringing sound when struck
From this reading ““Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?”
an anniversary of the day on which a person was born (or the celebration of it)
From this reading ““Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?”
plural of “blessing” — the formal act of approving
From this reading “In your wallet of blessings, all fresh and new, What fairy gifts are you bringing?””
very pleasing to the eye
From this reading ““Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?”
plural of “gift” — something acquired without compensation
From this reading “NEW YEAR’S GIFTS.”
the sound of a bell ringing
From this reading ““Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?”
a pocket-size case for holding papers and paper money
From this reading “In your wallet of blessings, all fresh and new, What fairy gifts are you bringing?””
possessive form of “year” — a period of time containing 365 (or 366) days
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.
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.
(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 In your wallet of blessings, all fresh and new, What fairy gifts are you bringing?”
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading In your wallet of blessings, all fresh and new, What fairy gifts are you bringing?”
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
plural of “bell” — a hollow device made of metal that makes a ringing sound when struck
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
an anniversary of the day on which a person was born (or the celebration of it)
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
plural of “blessing” — the formal act of approving
From this reading In your wallet of blessings, all fresh and new, What fairy gifts are you bringing?”
very pleasing to the eye
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
the act of delivering or distributing something (as goods or mail)
From this reading In your wallet of blessings, all fresh and new, What fairy gifts are you bringing?”
showing who or what does the action
From this reading BY MARY ROWLES.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
a small being, human in form, playful and having magical powers
From this reading In your wallet of blessings, all fresh and new, What fairy gifts are you bringing?”
come upon, as if by accident; meet with
From this reading How much of joy shall we find in you?
recently made, produced, or harvested
From this reading In your wallet of blessings, all fresh and new, What fairy gifts are you bringing?”
plural of “gift” — something acquired without compensation
From this reading NEW YEAR’S GIFTS.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading How much of joy shall we find in you?
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading How much of joy shall we find in you?
the emotion of great happiness
From this reading How much of joy shall we find in you?
the mother of Jesus; Christians refer to her as the Virgin Mary; she is especially honored by Roman Catholics
From this reading BY MARY ROWLES.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
to a great degree or extent
From this reading How much of joy shall we find in you?
not of long duration; having just (or relatively recently) come into being or been made or acquired or discovered
From this reading NEW YEAR’S GIFTS.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading How much of joy shall we find in you?
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
address a deity, a prophet, a saint or an object of worship; say a prayer
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
the sound of a bell ringing
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading BY MARY ROWLES.
used with I and we for the future, or to offer and suggest
From this reading How much of joy shall we find in you?
express in words
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
consistent with fact or reality; not false
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
a pocket-size case for holding papers and paper money
From this reading In your wallet of blessings, all fresh and new, What fairy gifts are you bringing?”
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading How much of joy shall we find in you?
used to ask for information about something
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
during the time that
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
a period of time containing 365 (or 366) days
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
possessive form of “year” — a period of time containing 365 (or 366) days
From this reading NEW YEAR’S GIFTS.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “Oh, bonny New Year, pray tell me true, While your birthday bells are ringing, What beautiful work have you come to do?
Chapter 1 of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 366, January 1, 1887 by Various holds 12 sentences, grouped into 3 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 12 sentences of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 366, January 1, 1887, unabridged, divided into 3 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 366, January 1, 1887 by Various exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 12 sentences, grouped into 3 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 3 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 3 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 Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 366, January 1, 1887 by Various on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1089 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #65696 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #65696, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 90 minutes of reading across 218 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 366, January 1, 1887 section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 5 chapters of The Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 366, January 1, 1887 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 Girl's Own Paper, Vol. VIII, No. 366, January 1, 1887, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
