Chapter 2 of The New McGuffey First Reader is here in full — 297 sentences across 60 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of The New McGuffey First Reader is here in full — 297 sentences across 60 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
It helps to keep us warm. It gives us light. When it goes down we have night. Then the stars come out and shine. The moon shines at night, too.
Chapter 2 of The New McGuffey First Reader is here in full — 297 sentences across 60 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/59 · 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.
plural of “give” — the elasticity of something that can be stretched and returns to its original length
From this reading “It gives us light.”
plural of “go” — a time period for working (after which you will be relieved by someone else)
From this reading “When it goes down we have night.”
plural of “help” — the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose
From this reading “It helps to keep us warm.”
the natural satellite of the Earth
From this reading “The moon shines at night, too.”
be bright by reflecting or casting light
From this reading “Then the stars come out and shine.”
plural of “shine” — the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light
From this reading “The moon shines at night, too.”
plural of “star” — (astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
From this reading “Then the stars come out and shine.”
having or producing a comfortable and agreeable degree of heat or imparting or maintaining heat
From this reading “It helps to keep us warm.”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Then the stars come out and shine.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading The moon shines at night, too.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading Then the stars come out and shine.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading When it goes down we have night.
plural of “give” — the elasticity of something that can be stretched and returns to its original length
From this reading It gives us light.
plural of “go” — a time period for working (after which you will be relieved by someone else)
From this reading When it goes down we have night.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading When it goes down we have night.
plural of “help” — the activity of contributing to the fulfillment of a need or furtherance of an effort or purpose
From this reading It helps to keep us warm.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It helps to keep us warm.
cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., “keep clean”
From this reading It helps to keep us warm.
of comparatively little physical weight or density
From this reading It gives us light.
the natural satellite of the Earth
From this reading The moon shines at night, too.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading When it goes down we have night.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Then the stars come out and shine.
be bright by reflecting or casting light
From this reading Then the stars come out and shine.
plural of “shine” — the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light
From this reading The moon shines at night, too.
plural of “star” — (astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
From this reading Then the stars come out and shine.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Then the stars come out and shine.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Then the stars come out and shine.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading It helps to keep us warm.
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
From this reading The moon shines at night, too.
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading It helps to keep us warm.
having or producing a comfortable and agreeable degree of heat or imparting or maintaining heat
From this reading It helps to keep us warm.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading When it goes down we have night.
at the time that
From this reading When it goes down we have night.
Chapter 2 of The New McGuffey First Reader by William Holmes McGuffey holds 297 sentences, grouped into 60 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 297 sentences of The New McGuffey First Reader, unabridged, divided into 60 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of The New McGuffey First Reader by William Holmes McGuffey exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 297 sentences, grouped into 60 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 60 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 60 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 New McGuffey First Reader by William Holmes McGuffey on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 570 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1489 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1489, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 47 minutes of reading across 114 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The New McGuffey First Reader section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 2 chapters of The New McGuffey First Reader 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 New McGuffey First Reader, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
