Chapter 1 of The Motormaniacs is here in full — 504 sentences across 101 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Motormaniacs is here in full — 504 sentences across 101 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"'Oh, a business talk,' he said, in a be-nice-to-the-child tone. "'Yes,' I said, 'I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.' "You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock. I quaked all over, like Honest Labor in the pictures. "He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.
Chapter 1 of The Motormaniacs is here in full — 504 sentences across 101 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 35/100 · 5 reading units · Lines 171–175
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.
an advertisement (usually printed on a page or in a leaflet) intended for wide distribution
From this reading “"'Yes,' I said, 'I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.'”
a small natural hill
From this reading “"You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.”
a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages
From this reading “I quaked all over, like Honest Labor in the pictures.”
a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards
From this reading “"You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.”
plural of “picture” — a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface
From this reading “I quaked all over, like Honest Labor in the pictures.”
held in check with difficulty
From this reading “"He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.”
utter obscenities or profanities
From this reading “"He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.”
plural of “western” — a film about life in the western United States during the period of exploration and development
From this reading “"'Yes,' I said, 'I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.'”
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 "'Oh, a business talk,' he said, in a be-nice-to-the-child tone.
(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 I quaked all over, like Honest Labor in the pictures.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading "He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading "He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading "He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.
exceptionally bad or displeasing
From this reading "He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.
having undesirable or negative qualities
From this reading "He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "'Oh, a business talk,' he said, in a be-nice-to-the-child tone.
a commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it
From this reading "'Oh, a business talk,' he said, in a be-nice-to-the-child tone.
an advertisement (usually printed on a page or in a leaflet) intended for wide distribution
From this reading "'Yes,' I said, 'I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.'
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading "'Yes,' I said, 'I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.'
a small natural hill
From this reading "You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading "You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "'Oh, a business talk,' he said, in a be-nice-to-the-child tone.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading "You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.
not disposed to cheat or defraud; not deceptive or fraudulent
From this reading I quaked all over, like Honest Labor in the pictures.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "'Yes,' I said, 'I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.'
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading "'Oh, a business talk,' he said, in a be-nice-to-the-child tone.
a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages
From this reading I quaked all over, like Honest Labor in the pictures.
a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards
From this reading "You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading I quaked all over, like Honest Labor in the pictures.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading "'Yes,' I said, 'I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.'
used to say something is possible but not certain
From this reading "'Yes,' I said, 'I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.'
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading "You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading "'Oh, a business talk,' he said, in a be-nice-to-the-child tone.
used with “to” to say what is right or advisable
From this reading "You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading "You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.
above and across; more than
From this reading I quaked all over, like Honest Labor in the pictures.
very light colored; highly diluted with white
From this reading "He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.
by chance
From this reading "'Yes,' I said, 'I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.'
plural of “picture” — a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface
From this reading I quaked all over, like Honest Labor in the pictures.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I quaked all over, like Honest Labor in the pictures.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading "'Oh, a business talk,' he said, in a be-nice-to-the-child tone.
inflected form of “see” — perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading "You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.
held in check with difficulty
From this reading "He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.
utter obscenities or profanities
From this reading "He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.
carry out
From this reading "'Yes,' I said, 'I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.'
exchange thoughts; talk with
From this reading "'Oh, a business talk,' he said, in a be-nice-to-the-child tone.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading "You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading I quaked all over, like Honest Labor in the pictures.
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading "'Yes,' I said, 'I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.'
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading "You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.
the quality of a person's voice
From this reading "'Oh, a business talk,' he said, in a be-nice-to-the-child tone.
moved around an axis or center
From this reading "He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.
plural of “western” — a film about life in the western United States during the period of exploration and development
From this reading "'Yes,' I said, 'I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.'
a Caucasian
From this reading "He smothered an awful bad swear and turned as pale as a white Panhard.
an affirmative
From this reading "'Yes,' I said, 'I thought I might perhaps take a little flyer in Great Westerns.'
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "You ought to have seen him leap out of that hammock.
Chapter 1 of The Motormaniacs by Lloyd Osbourne holds 504 sentences, grouped into 101 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 1 holds 504 sentences of The Motormaniacs, unabridged, divided into 101 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Motormaniacs by Lloyd Osbourne exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 504 sentences, grouped into 101 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 101 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 101 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 1 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 Motormaniacs by Lloyd Osbourne on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1963 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #5626 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #5626, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 163 minutes of reading across 393 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Motormaniacs section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 4 chapters of The Motormaniacs 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 Motormaniacs, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
