Chapter 8 of The Literary Sense is here in full — 417 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of The Literary Sense is here in full — 417 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
He might have answered that he did not understand her. She did not mean him to understand. She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile. He did not answer at all. He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.
Chapter 8 of The Literary Sense is here in full — 417 sentences across 84 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/83 · 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.
regarded with admiration
From this reading “He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.”
able to attract interest or draw favorable attention
From this reading “She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.”
the act of giving
From this reading “She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.”
headdress that protects the head from bad weather; has shaped crown and usually a brim
From this reading “He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.”
low or inferior in station or quality
From this reading “She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.”
be a mystery or bewildering to
From this reading “She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.”
characterized by or indicative of distress or affliction or danger or need
From this reading “She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.”
the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean
From this reading “He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.”
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 “He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.”
In this reading “He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.”
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 He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.
regarded with admiration
From this reading He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.
(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 He did not answer at all.
react verbally
From this reading He did not answer at all.
past form of “answer” — react verbally
From this reading He might have answered that he did not understand her.
able to attract interest or draw favorable attention
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading He did not answer at all.
delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading He might have answered that he did not understand her.
an adequate quantity; a quantity that is large enough to achieve a purpose
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
the act of giving
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.
headdress that protects the head from bad weather; has shaped crown and usually a brim
From this reading He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading He might have answered that he did not understand her.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He might have answered that he did not understand her.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading He might have answered that he did not understand her.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading She did not mean him to understand.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.
low or inferior in station or quality
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.
inflected form of “know” — be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
mean or intend to express or convey
From this reading She did not mean him to understand.
used to say something is possible but not certain
From this reading He might have answered that he did not understand her.
a particular point in time
From this reading He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.
to a great degree or extent
From this reading He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading He might have answered that he did not understand her.
above and across; more than
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
be a mystery or bewildering to
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She did not mean him to understand.
past form of “smile” — change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
yielding readily to pressure or weight
From this reading He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
Maintained an upright posture.
From this reading He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading He might have answered that he did not understand her.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading She did not mean him to understand.
characterized by or indicative of distress or affliction or danger or need
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean
From this reading He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.
know and comprehend the nature or meaning of
From this reading He might have answered that he did not understand her.
precisely as stated
From this reading He stood a moment twisting his soft hat in his hands: she admired his hands very much.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
(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 She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
at the time that
From this reading She knew well enough that she was giving him something to puzzle over when she smiled that beautiful, troubled, humble, appealing half-smile.
Chapter 8 of The Literary Sense by E. (Edith) Nesbit holds 417 sentences, grouped into 84 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 8 holds 417 sentences of The Literary Sense, unabridged, divided into 84 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of The Literary Sense by E. (Edith) Nesbit exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 417 sentences, grouped into 84 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 84 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 84 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 8 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 Literary Sense by E. (Edith) Nesbit on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4225 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #39324 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #39324, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 352 minutes of reading across 845 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Literary Sense section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 10 chapters of The Literary Sense 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 Literary Sense, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
