Chapter 20 of The Motor Boys Afloat is here in full — 117 sentences across 24 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XX
Chapter 20 of The Motor Boys Afloat is here in full — 117 sentences across 24 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
OFF TO THE LAKE “Kidnapped?” the chief exclaimed. “Yes! Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief. “Noddy did not come home all night. This morning I found this in his room.
Chapter 20 of The Motor Boys Afloat is here in full — 117 sentences across 24 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/23 · 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.
a person who is in charge
From this reading “OFF TO THE LAKE “Kidnapped?” the chief exclaimed.”
the feeling of lively and cheerful joy
From this reading “Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.”
relatively long in duration; tediously protracted
From this reading “Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.”
inflected form of “kidnap” — take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom
From this reading “OFF TO THE LAKE “Kidnapped?” the chief exclaimed.”
a body of (usually fresh) water surrounded by land
From this reading “OFF TO THE LAKE “Kidnapped?” the chief exclaimed.”
vice president under Eisenhower and 37th President of the United States; resigned after the Watergate scandal in 1974 (1913-1994)
From this reading “Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.”
a separate part of a whole
From this reading “Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.”
a shaky motion
From this reading “Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.”
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.
become clear or enter one's consciousness or emotions
In this reading ““Noddy did not come home all night.”
In this reading “Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.”
In this reading ““Noddy did not come home all night.”
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 Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
(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 “Noddy did not come home all night.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
a person who is in charge
From this reading OFF TO THE LAKE “Kidnapped?” the chief exclaimed.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading “Noddy did not come home all night.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading “Noddy did not come home all night.
the feeling of lively and cheerful joy
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
past form of “exclaim” — utter aloud; often with surprise, horror, or joy
From this reading OFF TO THE LAKE “Kidnapped?” the chief exclaimed.
relatively long in duration; tediously protracted
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
set up or found
From this reading This morning I found this in his room.
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading “Noddy did not come home all night.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading This morning I found this in his room.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading This morning I found this in his room.
inflected form of “kidnap” — take away to an undisclosed location against their will and usually in order to extract a ransom
From this reading OFF TO THE LAKE “Kidnapped?” the chief exclaimed.
a body of (usually fresh) water surrounded by land
From this reading OFF TO THE LAKE “Kidnapped?” the chief exclaimed.
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading This morning I found this in his room.
a form of address for a man
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading “Noddy did not come home all night.
vice president under Eisenhower and 37th President of the United States; resigned after the Watergate scandal in 1974 (1913-1994)
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Noddy did not come home all night.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading “Noddy did not come home all night.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading OFF TO THE LAKE “Kidnapped?” the chief exclaimed.
a material made of cellulose pulp derived mainly from wood or rags or certain grasses
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
a separate part of a whole
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling
From this reading This morning I found this in his room.
support consisting of a radial member of a wheel joining the hub to the rim
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading OFF TO THE LAKE “Kidnapped?” the chief exclaimed.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading This morning I found this in his room.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading OFF TO THE LAKE “Kidnapped?” the chief exclaimed.
a shaky motion
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Look here!” spoke Mr. Nixon, his hands trembling with excitement as he extended a piece of paper to the chief.
an affirmative
From this reading “Yes!
Chapter 20 of The Motor Boys Afloat by Clarence Young holds 117 sentences, grouped into 24 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 20 holds 117 sentences of The Motor Boys Afloat, unabridged, divided into 24 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 20 of The Motor Boys Afloat by Clarence Young exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 117 sentences, grouped into 24 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 24 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 24 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 20 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 Motor Boys Afloat by Clarence Young on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3627 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #44788 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #44788, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 302 minutes of reading across 726 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Motor Boys Afloat section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 30 chapters of The Motor Boys Afloat 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 Motor Boys Afloat, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
