Chapter 1 of The Laugh Maker is here in full — 215 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Laugh Maker is here in full — 215 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much. You can be too cheerful. You can look too much on the sunny side of life. You wont believe this and neither did Bobby McTabb. But McTabb proved it out.
Chapter 1 of The Laugh Maker is here in full — 215 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/43 · 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.
writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
From this reading “by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.”
people who have severe visual impairments, considered as a group
From this reading “by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.”
an informal term for a British policeman
From this reading “You wont believe this and neither did Bobby McTabb.”
being full of or promoting cheer; having or showing good spirits
From this reading “You can be too cheerful.”
a Stuart king of Scotland who married a daughter of Henry VII; when England and France went to war in 1513 he invaded England and died in defeat at Flodden (1473-1513)
From this reading “by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.”
United States jazz musician who influenced the style of Louis Armstrong (1885-1938)
From this reading “by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.”
bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
From this reading “You can look too much on the sunny side of life.”
an established custom
From this reading “You wont believe this and neither did Bobby McTabb.”
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 can look too much on the sunny side of life.”
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 You wont believe this and neither did Bobby McTabb.
writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading You can be too cheerful.
accept as true; take to be true
From this reading You wont believe this and neither did Bobby McTabb.
people who have severe visual impairments, considered as a group
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
an informal term for a British policeman
From this reading You wont believe this and neither did Bobby McTabb.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But McTabb proved it out.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
to be able to, or to be allowed to
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
being full of or promoting cheer; having or showing good spirits
From this reading You can be too cheerful.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading You wont believe this and neither did Bobby McTabb.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
the supernatural being conceived as the perfect and omnipotent and omniscient originator and ruler of the universe; the object of worship in monotheistic religions
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading But McTabb proved it out.
a Stuart king of Scotland who married a daughter of Henry VII; when England and France went to war in 1513 he invaded England and died in defeat at Flodden (1473-1513)
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
the sound of laughing
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading You can look too much on the sunny side of life.
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading You can look too much on the sunny side of life.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading You wont believe this and neither did Bobby McTabb.
to a great degree or extent
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
not one and not the other of two
From this reading You wont believe this and neither did Bobby McTabb.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
United States jazz musician who influenced the style of Louis Armstrong (1885-1938)
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading You can look too much on the sunny side of life.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading But McTabb proved it out.
established beyond doubt
From this reading But McTabb proved it out.
a place within a region identified relative to a center or reference location
From this reading You can look too much on the sunny side of life.
bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
From this reading You can look too much on the sunny side of life.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading You wont believe this and neither did Bobby McTabb.
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
an established custom
From this reading You wont believe this and neither did Bobby McTabb.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading by JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD Author of “The Blind God,” etc. You can laugh too much.
Chapter 1 of The Laugh Maker by James Oliver Curwood holds 215 sentences, grouped into 43 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 215 sentences of The Laugh Maker, unabridged, divided into 43 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Laugh Maker by James Oliver Curwood exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 215 sentences, grouped into 43 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 43 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 43 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 Laugh Maker by James Oliver Curwood on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 215 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #67154 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #67154, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 17 minutes of reading across 43 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Laugh Maker section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of The Laugh Maker 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 Laugh Maker, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
