Chapter 8 of The Mermaid: A Love Tale is here in full — 103 sentences across 21 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of The Mermaid: A Love Tale is here in full — 103 sentences across 21 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
BELIEF IN THE IMPOSSIBLE. Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad. A man with a cartload of corn was coming past. Caius looked at him and his horse, and at the familiar stretch of road. It was a relief so to look.
Chapter 8 of The Mermaid: A Love Tale is here in full — 103 sentences across 21 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/20 · 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.
any cognitive content held as true
From this reading “BELIEF IN THE IMPOSSIBLE.”
past form of “clamber” — climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
From this reading “Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad.”
a steep high face of rock
From this reading “Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad.”
tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times
From this reading “A man with a cartload of corn was coming past.”
well known or easily recognized
From this reading “Caius looked at him and his horse, and at the familiar stretch of road.”
enclose with a fence
From this reading “Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad.”
the feeling that comes when something burdensome is removed or reduced
From this reading “It was a relief so to look.”
occupy a large, elongated area
From this reading “Caius looked at him and his horse, and at the familiar stretch of road.”
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 man with a cartload of corn was coming past.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Caius looked at him and his horse, and at the familiar stretch of road.
any cognitive content held as true
From this reading BELIEF IN THE IMPOSSIBLE.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad.
the quantity that a cart holds
From this reading A man with a cartload of corn was coming past.
past form of “clamber” — climb awkwardly, as if by scrambling
From this reading Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad.
a steep high face of rock
From this reading Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad.
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading A man with a cartload of corn was coming past.
tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times
From this reading A man with a cartload of corn was coming past.
well known or easily recognized
From this reading Caius looked at him and his horse, and at the familiar stretch of road.
enclose with a fence
From this reading Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad.
a highway
From this reading Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Caius looked at him and his horse, and at the familiar stretch of road.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Caius looked at him and his horse, and at the familiar stretch of road.
solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times
From this reading Caius looked at him and his horse, and at the familiar stretch of road.
not capable of occurring or being accomplished or dealt with
From this reading BELIEF IN THE IMPOSSIBLE.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading BELIEF IN THE IMPOSSIBLE.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was a relief so to look.
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading It was a relief so to look.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading Caius looked at him and his horse, and at the familiar stretch of road.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading A man with a cartload of corn was coming past.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading A man with a cartload of corn was coming past.
above and across; more than
From this reading Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad.
the time that has elapsed
From this reading A man with a cartload of corn was coming past.
the feeling that comes when something burdensome is removed or reduced
From this reading It was a relief so to look.
an open way (generally public) for travel or transportation
From this reading Caius looked at him and his horse, and at the familiar stretch of road.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading It was a relief so to look.
occupy a large, elongated area
From this reading Caius looked at him and his horse, and at the familiar stretch of road.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading BELIEF IN THE IMPOSSIBLE.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading Caius clambered up the cliff and over the fence to the highroad.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading A man with a cartload of corn was coming past.
in the company of; together with
From this reading A man with a cartload of corn was coming past.
Chapter 8 of The Mermaid: A Love Tale by L. (Lily) Dougall holds 103 sentences, grouped into 21 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 103 sentences of The Mermaid: A Love Tale, unabridged, divided into 21 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of The Mermaid: A Love Tale by L. (Lily) Dougall exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 103 sentences, grouped into 21 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 21 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 21 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 Mermaid: A Love Tale by L. (Lily) Dougall on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Mermaid: A Love Tale section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of The Mermaid: A Love Tale 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 Mermaid: A Love Tale, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
