Chapter 12 of The painted room is here in full — 407 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XII
Chapter 12 of The painted room is here in full — 407 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
She was still drying those hands. Emily and Martha babbled together almost incoherently. "What do you mean?" "You're not pregnant at all. There's not a sign of pregnancy."
Chapter 12 of The painted room is here in full — 407 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/81 · 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.
past form of “babble” — utter meaningless sounds, like a baby, or utter in an incoherent way
From this reading “Emily and Martha babbled together almost incoherently.”
-ing form of “dry” — remove the moisture from and make dry
From this reading “She was still drying those hands.”
in an incoherent manner
From this reading “Emily and Martha babbled together almost incoherently.”
mean or intend to express or convey
From this reading “"What do you mean?"”
the state of being pregnant; the period from conception to birth when a woman carries a developing fetus in her uterus
From this reading “There's not a sign of pregnancy."”
carrying developing offspring within the body or being about to produce new life
From this reading “"You're not pregnant at all.”
a perceptible indication of something not immediately apparent (as a visible clue that something has happened)
From this reading “There's not a sign of pregnancy."”
in contact with each other or in proximity
From this reading “Emily and Martha babbled together almost incoherently.”
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.
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 There's not a sign of pregnancy."
(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 "You're not pregnant at all.
(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
From this reading Emily and Martha babbled together almost incoherently.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Emily and Martha babbled together almost incoherently.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading "You're not pregnant at all.
past form of “babble” — utter meaningless sounds, like a baby, or utter in an incoherent way
From this reading Emily and Martha babbled together almost incoherently.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading "What do you mean?"
-ing form of “dry” — remove the moisture from and make dry
From this reading She was still drying those hands.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Emily and Martha babbled together almost incoherently.
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading She was still drying those hands.
in an incoherent manner
From this reading Emily and Martha babbled together almost incoherently.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Emily and Martha babbled together almost incoherently.
mean or intend to express or convey
From this reading "What do you mean?"
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading "You're not pregnant at all.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading There's not a sign of pregnancy."
the state of being pregnant; the period from conception to birth when a woman carries a developing fetus in her uterus
From this reading There's not a sign of pregnancy."
carrying developing offspring within the body or being about to produce new life
From this reading "You're not pregnant at all.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She was still drying those hands.
a perceptible indication of something not immediately apparent (as a visible clue that something has happened)
From this reading There's not a sign of pregnancy."
not in physical motion
From this reading She was still drying those hands.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading There's not a sign of pregnancy."
the plural of “that”: the people or things further away, or already known
From this reading She was still drying those hands.
in contact with each other or in proximity
From this reading Emily and Martha babbled together almost incoherently.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading She was still drying those hands.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading "What do you mean?"
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "What do you mean?"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "You're not pregnant at all.
Chapter 12 of The painted room by Margaret Wilson holds 407 sentences, grouped into 82 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 12 holds 407 sentences of The painted room, unabridged, divided into 82 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 12 of The painted room by Margaret Wilson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 407 sentences, grouped into 82 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 82 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 82 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 12 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 painted room by Margaret Wilson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The painted room section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of The painted room 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 painted room, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
