Chapter 16 of The Grand Babylon Hôtel is here in full — 210 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVI
Chapter 16 of The Grand Babylon Hôtel is here in full — 210 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
‘My dear Eugen!’ exclaimed Aribert aghast. ‘A thousand guineas! Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper. A thousand guineas! You might as well offer him sixpence.’
Chapter 16 of The Grand Babylon Hôtel is here in full — 210 sentences across 42 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/42 · 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.
struck with fear, dread, or consternation
From this reading “‘My dear Eugen!’ exclaimed Aribert aghast.”
obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction
From this reading “Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.”
past form of “exclaim” — utter aloud; often with surprise, horror, or joy
From this reading “‘My dear Eugen!’ exclaimed Aribert aghast.”
plural of “guinea” — a former British gold coin worth 21 shillings
From this reading “‘A thousand guineas!”
the act that results in something coming to be
From this reading “Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.”
make available or accessible, provide or furnish
From this reading “You might as well offer him sixpence.’”
a person who is very poor
From this reading “Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.”
the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100
From this reading “‘A thousand guineas!”
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 thousand guineas!
struck with fear, dread, or consternation
From this reading ‘My dear Eugen!’ exclaimed Aribert aghast.
(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 Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ‘My dear Eugen!’ exclaimed Aribert aghast.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading You might as well offer him sixpence.’
obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
dearly loved
From this reading ‘My dear Eugen!’ exclaimed Aribert aghast.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
either extremity of something that has length
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ‘My dear Eugen!’ exclaimed Aribert aghast.
past form of “exclaim” — utter aloud; often with surprise, horror, or joy
From this reading ‘My dear Eugen!’ exclaimed Aribert aghast.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
plural of “guinea” — a former British gold coin worth 21 shillings
From this reading ‘A thousand guineas!
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading You might as well offer him sixpence.’
used when the man or boy doing the action is also its object
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
the act that results in something coming to be
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
used to say something is possible but not certain
From this reading You might as well offer him sixpence.’
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading ‘My dear Eugen!’ exclaimed Aribert aghast.
make available or accessible, provide or furnish
From this reading You might as well offer him sixpence.’
a person who is very poor
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
a small coin of the United Kingdom worth six pennies; not minted since 1970
From this reading You might as well offer him sixpence.’
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100
From this reading ‘A thousand guineas!
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading You might as well offer him sixpence.’
not having, not using, or not accompanied by
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Do you know that Theodore Racksole could buy up all Posen from end to end without making himself a pauper.
Chapter 16 of The Grand Babylon Hôtel by Arnold Bennett holds 210 sentences, grouped into 42 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 16 holds 210 sentences of The Grand Babylon Hôtel, unabridged, divided into 42 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 16 of The Grand Babylon Hôtel by Arnold Bennett exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 210 sentences, grouped into 42 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 42 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 42 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 16 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 Grand Babylon Hôtel by Arnold Bennett on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4952 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #2813 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #2813, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 412 minutes of reading across 991 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Grand Babylon Hôtel section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 23 chapters of The Grand Babylon Hôtel 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 Grand Babylon Hôtel, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
