Chapter 21 of The Major is here in full — 568 sentences across 114 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXI
Chapter 21 of The Major is here in full — 568 sentences across 114 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray. “It will be worth seeing to-day.” “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs. “All right, Isabel; all right, Helen. I'll take you with me,” said Jane.
Chapter 21 of The Major is here in full — 568 sentences across 114 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/113 · 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.
completely unclothed
From this reading ““Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.”
-ing form of “clutch” — take hold of; grab
From this reading ““Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.”
(Greek mythology) the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda who was abducted by Paris; the Greek army sailed to Troy to get her back which resulted in the Trojan War
From this reading ““All right, Isabel; all right, Helen.”
a body of (usually fresh) water surrounded by land
From this reading “WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.”
British classical scholar (born in Australia) who advocated the League of Nations and the United Nations (1866-1957)
From this reading “WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.”
plural of “sandal” — a shoe consisting of a sole fastened by straps to the foot
From this reading ““Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.”
uttered in a shrill scream as of pain or terror
From this reading ““Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.”
(used informally) very small
From this reading ““Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.”
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 WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.
(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 “All right, Isabel; all right, Helen.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
completely unclothed
From this reading “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading “It will be worth seeing to-day.”
earlier than; in front of
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
one of the groups of Christians who have their own beliefs and forms of worship
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
-ing form of “clutch” — take hold of; grab
From this reading “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
plural of “girl” — a young female
From this reading “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
(Greek mythology) the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda who was abducted by Paris; the Greek army sailed to Troy to get her back which resulted in the Trojan War
From this reading “All right, Isabel; all right, Helen.
a local and well-defined elevation of the land
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I'll take you with me,” said Jane.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “All right, Isabel; all right, Helen.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading “It will be worth seeing to-day.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
and nothing more
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
a body of (usually fresh) water surrounded by land
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
staying power
From this reading “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.
British classical scholar (born in Australia) who advocated the League of Nations and the United Nations (1866-1957)
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
completely prepared or in condition for immediate action or use or progress
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
precisely, exactly
From this reading “All right, Isabel; all right, Helen.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
plural of “sandal” — a shoe consisting of a sole fastened by straps to the foot
From this reading “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.
perception by means of the eyes
From this reading “It will be worth seeing to-day.”
uttered in a shrill scream as of pain or terror
From this reading “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.
carry out
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “It will be worth seeing to-day.”
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
From this reading “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.
the upper part of anything
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.
the waging of armed conflict against an enemy
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading WAR “Come, Jane, we have just time to take a look at the lake from the top of the hill before we get ready for church,” said Ethel Murray.
(used informally) very small
From this reading “Me too, me too,” shrieked two wee girls in bare legs and sandals, clutching Jane about the legs.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading “It will be worth seeing to-day.”
in the company of; together with
From this reading I'll take you with me,” said Jane.
an indefinite quantity of something having a specified value
From this reading “It will be worth seeing to-day.”
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading I'll take you with me,” said Jane.
Chapter 21 of The Major by Ralph Connor holds 568 sentences, grouped into 114 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 21 holds 568 sentences of The Major, unabridged, divided into 114 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 21 of The Major by Ralph Connor exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 568 sentences, grouped into 114 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 114 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 114 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 21 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 Major by Ralph Connor on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 8844 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #3249 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #3249, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1769 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Major section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 24 chapters of The Major 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 Major, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
