Chapter 23 of The Motor Boys on a Ranch is here in full — 133 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIII
Chapter 23 of The Motor Boys on a Ranch is here in full — 133 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
LETTERS FROM HOME The boys started at these words. The professor in the hands of the cattle thieves! “But--but!” stammered the surprised Ned. “If they took him, why didn’t they take us? We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
Chapter 23 of The Motor Boys on a Ranch is here in full — 133 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/26 · 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.
domesticated bovine animals as a group regardless of sex or age
From this reading “The professor in the hands of the cattle thieves!”
determine the result of (a competition)
From this reading “We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.”
the literary culture
From this reading “LETTERS FROM HOME The boys started at these words.”
a person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war
From this reading “We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.”
someone who is a member of the faculty at a college or university
From this reading “The professor in the hands of the cattle thieves!”
past form of “start” — take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
From this reading “LETTERS FROM HOME The boys started at these words.”
taken unawares or suddenly and feeling wonder or astonishment
From this reading ““But--but!” stammered the surprised Ned.”
plural of “thief” — a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it
From this reading “The professor in the hands of the cattle thieves!”
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.
someone who steals livestock (especially cattle)
In this reading “The professor in the hands of the cattle thieves!”
In this reading “We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.”
In this reading “LETTERS FROM HOME The boys started at these words.”
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 We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading LETTERS FROM HOME The boys started at these words.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
plural of “boy” — a youthful male person
From this reading LETTERS FROM HOME The boys started at these words.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading “But--but!” stammered the surprised Ned.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
domesticated bovine animals as a group regardless of sex or age
From this reading The professor in the hands of the cattle thieves!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “If they took him, why didn’t they take us?
to a considerable degree; very much
From this reading We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading LETTERS FROM HOME The boys started at these words.
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading The professor in the hands of the cattle thieves!
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading “If they took him, why didn’t they take us?
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading LETTERS FROM HOME The boys started at these words.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading “If they took him, why didn’t they take us?
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The professor in the hands of the cattle thieves!
determine the result of (a competition)
From this reading We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
the literary culture
From this reading LETTERS FROM HOME The boys started at these words.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “But--but!” stammered the surprised Ned.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The professor in the hands of the cattle thieves!
a person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war
From this reading We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
someone who is a member of the faculty at a college or university
From this reading The professor in the hands of the cattle thieves!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “But--but!” stammered the surprised Ned.
past form of “start” — take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
From this reading LETTERS FROM HOME The boys started at these words.
taken unawares or suddenly and feeling wonder or astonishment
From this reading “But--but!” stammered the surprised Ned.
carry out
From this reading “If they took him, why didn’t they take us?
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading LETTERS FROM HOME The boys started at these words.
the plural of “this”: the people or things near, or just mentioned
From this reading LETTERS FROM HOME The boys started at these words.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading “If they took him, why didn’t they take us?
plural of “thief” — a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it
From this reading The professor in the hands of the cattle thieves!
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
inflected form of “take” — carry out
From this reading “If they took him, why didn’t they take us?
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading “If they took him, why didn’t they take us?
the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech
From this reading We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
in or at the place that
From this reading We weren’t far away from where they made the professor a prisoner, to judge by his voice.
the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase “the whys and wherefores”
From this reading “If they took him, why didn’t they take us?
the words that are spoken
From this reading LETTERS FROM HOME The boys started at these words.
Chapter 23 of The Motor Boys on a Ranch by Clarence Young holds 133 sentences, grouped into 27 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 23 holds 133 sentences of The Motor Boys on a Ranch, unabridged, divided into 27 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 23 of The Motor Boys on a Ranch by Clarence Young exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 133 sentences, grouped into 27 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 27 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 27 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 23 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 on a Ranch by Clarence Young on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3877 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #52153 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #52153, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 323 minutes of reading across 776 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Motor Boys on a Ranch section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 30 chapters of The Motor Boys on a Ranch 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 on a Ranch, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
