Chapter 2 of The monster-hunters is here in full — 329 sentences across 66 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of The monster-hunters is here in full — 329 sentences across 66 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
KILLING THE LAST DRAGON “Father, I want a dragon!” The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son. “All right, my boy,” he said with a smile; “go ahead and get one.” “But I mean a real dragon!” “About how big, Perry?”
Chapter 2 of The monster-hunters is here in full — 329 sentences across 66 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/65 · 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.
with diligence; in a diligent manner
From this reading “The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.”
a creature of Teutonic mythology; usually represented as breathing fire and having a reptilian body and sometimes wings
From this reading “KILLING THE LAST DRAGON “Father, I want a dragon!””
an event that causes someone to die
From this reading “KILLING THE LAST DRAGON “Father, I want a dragon!””
below the surround or below the normal position
From this reading “The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.”
A person or company involved in wholesale trade, especially with foreign countries.
From this reading “The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.”
a daily or weekly publication on folded sheets; contains news and articles and advertisements
From this reading “The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.”
United States philosopher (1876-1957)
From this reading ““About how big, Perry?””
marked by practical hardheaded intelligence
From this reading “The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.”
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.
proceed (with a plan of action)
In this reading ““All right, my boy,” he said with a smile; “go ahead and get one.””
In this reading “The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.”
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 KILLING THE LAST DRAGON “Father, I want a dragon!”
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading “About how big, Perry?”
at or in the front
From this reading “All right, my boy,” he said with a smile; “go ahead and get one.”
(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, my boy,” he said with a smile; “go ahead and get one.”
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
above average in size or number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading “About how big, Perry?”
a youthful male person
From this reading “All right, my boy,” he said with a smile; “go ahead and get one.”
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading “But I mean a real dragon!”
with diligence; in a diligent manner
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
a creature of Teutonic mythology; usually represented as breathing fire and having a reptilian body and sometimes wings
From this reading KILLING THE LAST DRAGON “Father, I want a dragon!”
the latter part of the day (the period of decreasing daylight from late afternoon until nightfall)
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading KILLING THE LAST DRAGON “Father, I want a dragon!”
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading “All right, my boy,” he said with a smile; “go ahead and get one.”
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading “All right, my boy,” he said with a smile; “go ahead and get one.”
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “About how big, Perry?”
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading KILLING THE LAST DRAGON “Father, I want a dragon!”
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
an event that causes someone to die
From this reading KILLING THE LAST DRAGON “Father, I want a dragon!”
immediately past
From this reading KILLING THE LAST DRAGON “Father, I want a dragon!”
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
below the surround or below the normal position
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
mean or intend to express or convey
From this reading “But I mean a real dragon!”
A person or company involved in wholesale trade, especially with foreign countries.
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading “All right, my boy,” he said with a smile; “go ahead and get one.”
a daily or weekly publication on folded sheets; contains news and articles and advertisements
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
(used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading “All right, my boy,” he said with a smile; “go ahead and get one.”
above and across; more than
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
United States philosopher (1876-1957)
From this reading “About how big, Perry?”
the cognitive process of understanding a written linguistic message
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
being or occurring in fact or actuality; having verified existence; not illusory
From this reading “But I mean a real dragon!”
precisely, exactly
From this reading “All right, my boy,” he said with a smile; “go ahead and get one.”
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “All right, my boy,” he said with a smile; “go ahead and get one.”
marked by practical hardheaded intelligence
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading “All right, my boy,” he said with a smile; “go ahead and get one.”
a male human offspring
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading KILLING THE LAST DRAGON “Father, I want a dragon!”
feel or have a desire for; want strongly
From this reading KILLING THE LAST DRAGON “Father, I want a dragon!”
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The shrewd old merchant lowered the evening newspaper he was diligently reading, and looked over it at his son.
in the company of; together with
From this reading “All right, my boy,” he said with a smile; “go ahead and get one.”
Chapter 2 of The monster-hunters by Francis Rolt-Wheeler holds 329 sentences, grouped into 66 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 2 holds 329 sentences of The monster-hunters, unabridged, divided into 66 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of The monster-hunters by Francis Rolt-Wheeler exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 329 sentences, grouped into 66 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 66 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 66 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 2 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 monster-hunters by Francis Rolt-Wheeler on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4072 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #70390 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #70390, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 339 minutes of reading across 815 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The monster-hunters section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 12 chapters of The monster-hunters 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 monster-hunters, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
