Chapter 9 of The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts is here in full — 428 sentences across 86 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IX
Chapter 9 of The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts is here in full — 428 sentences across 86 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
NORAH. I wonder why he never told me. MRS. SHARP. I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
Chapter 9 of The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts is here in full — 428 sentences across 86 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/85 · 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.
unlike in nature or quality or form or degree
From this reading “I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.”
expect, believe, or suppose
From this reading “I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.”
an established custom
From this reading “I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.”
conformity or harmony
From this reading “I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.”
(of something seen or heard) clearly defined
From this reading “SHARP.”
inflected form of “teach” — impart skills or knowledge to
From this reading “I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.”
plural of “trouble” — a source of difficulty
From this reading “I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.”
the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising
From this reading “I wonder why he never told me.”
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 “I wonder why he never told me.”
In this reading “I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
unlike in nature or quality or form or degree
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
expect, believe, or suppose
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
an established custom
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading I wonder why he never told me.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
used when the man or boy doing the action is also its object
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I wonder why he never told me.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
conformity or harmony
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading I wonder why he never told me.
a form of address for a married woman
From this reading MRS.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading I wonder why he never told me.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading NORAH.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
(of something seen or heard) clearly defined
From this reading SHARP.
inflected form of “teach” — impart skills or knowledge to
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
inflected form of “tell” — express in words
From this reading I wonder why he never told me.
plural of “trouble” — a source of difficulty
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase “the whys and wherefores”
From this reading I wonder why he never told me.
the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising
From this reading I wonder why he never told me.
but in spite of that
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I guess he’s in the habit of keeping his troubles to himself and you’ve not taught him different yet.
Chapter 9 of The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham holds 428 sentences, grouped into 86 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 428 sentences of The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts, unabridged, divided into 86 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 9 of The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 428 sentences, grouped into 86 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 86 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 86 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.
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Words and structures a reader meets early in The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
