Chapter 16 of The painted room is here in full — 400 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVI
Chapter 16 of The painted room is here in full — 400 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"You worked on it nearly a year." "Yes, I had. And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet! I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words." "Goodness!"
Chapter 16 of The painted room is here in full — 400 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/80 · 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.
the event consisting of the start of something
From this reading “I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."”
maintain with or as if with a bet
From this reading “And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!”
treated by heating to a high temperature but below the melting or fusing point
From this reading “And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!”
that which is pleasing or valuable or useful
From this reading “"Goodness!"”
a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention
From this reading “I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."”
being ten more than sixty
From this reading “I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."”
past form of “type” — write by means of a keyboard with types
From this reading “I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."”
past form of “work” — exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
From this reading “"You worked on it nearly a year."”
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.
In this reading “I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."”
In this reading “I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand 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 "You worked on it nearly a year."
(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 typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
the event consisting of the start of something
From this reading I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."
maintain with or as if with a bet
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
treated by heating to a high temperature but below the melting or fusing point
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
to be able to, or to be allowed to
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
either extremity of something that has length
From this reading I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."
all things; all of a situation
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."
that which is pleasing or valuable or useful
From this reading "Goodness!"
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading "Yes, I had.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "Yes, I had.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading "You worked on it nearly a year."
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
apprehended with certainty
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention
From this reading I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."
(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
From this reading "You worked on it nearly a year."
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading "You worked on it nearly a year."
above and across; more than
From this reading I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."
being ten more than sixty
From this reading I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100
From this reading I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."
past form of “type” — write by means of a keyboard with types
From this reading I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
not having, not using, or not accompanied by
From this reading I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."
the words that are spoken
From this reading I typed it all over without a mistake, from beginning to end; it had seventy thousand words."
past form of “work” — exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
From this reading "You worked on it nearly a year."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading And if I'd known everything _then_ I know _now_, I wouldn't have burned it up, you can bet!
a period of time containing 365 (or 366) days
From this reading "You worked on it nearly a year."
an affirmative
From this reading "Yes, I had.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "You worked on it nearly a year."
Chapter 16 of The painted room by Margaret Wilson holds 400 sentences, grouped into 80 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 16 holds 400 sentences of The painted room, unabridged, divided into 80 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 16 of The painted room by Margaret Wilson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 400 sentences, grouped into 80 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 80 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 80 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 16 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.
