Chapter 3 of The Phantom Violin is here in full — 144 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter III
Chapter 3 of The Phantom Violin is here in full — 144 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A PHANTOM OF THE AIR “It’s a phantom, a phantom of the air!” Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears. A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds. Strange sounds they were to her. Bird songs all the same.
Chapter 3 of The Phantom Violin is here in full — 144 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/28 · 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.
an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions
From this reading “Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.”
the act of hearing attentively
From this reading “Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.”
A ghost or apparition; a figment of the imagination or a hidden dweller.
From this reading “A PHANTOM OF THE AIR “It’s a phantom, a phantom of the air!””
causing reflection or having a device that reflects
From this reading “Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.”
the context and environment in which something is set
From this reading “Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.”
plural of “song” — a short musical composition with words
From this reading “Bird songs all the same.”
plural of “sound” — the particular auditory effect produced by a given cause
From this reading “Strange sounds they were to her.”
a series of chirps
From this reading “A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds.”
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 “Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.”
In this reading “Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.”
In this reading “Strange sounds they were to her.”
In this reading “Bird songs all the same.”
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 A PHANTOM OF THE AIR “It’s a phantom, a phantom of the air!”
a mixture of gases (especially oxygen) required for breathing; the stuff that the wind consists of
From this reading A PHANTOM OF THE AIR “It’s a phantom, a phantom of the air!”
(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 Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds.
earlier than; in front of
From this reading A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds.
warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading Bird songs all the same.
plural of “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds.
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being)
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
plural of “ear” — the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
opinion or judgment
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds.
(law) a proceeding (usually by a court) where evidence is taken for the purpose of determining an issue of fact and reaching a decision based on that evidence
From this reading A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A PHANTOM OF THE AIR “It’s a phantom, a phantom of the air!”
of comparatively little physical weight or density
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
the act of hearing attentively
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
a particular point in time
From this reading A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading A PHANTOM OF THE AIR “It’s a phantom, a phantom of the air!”
and nothing more
From this reading A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds.
A ghost or apparition; a figment of the imagination or a hidden dweller.
From this reading A PHANTOM OF THE AIR “It’s a phantom, a phantom of the air!”
causing reflection or having a device that reflects
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
Identical; not different.
From this reading Bird songs all the same.
the context and environment in which something is set
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds.
a short musical composition with words
From this reading A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds.
plural of “song” — a short musical composition with words
From this reading Bird songs all the same.
plural of “sound” — the particular auditory effect produced by a given cause
From this reading Strange sounds they were to her.
Maintained an upright posture.
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird
From this reading Strange sounds they were to her.
the star that is the source of light and heat for the planets in the solar system
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading A PHANTOM OF THE AIR “It’s a phantom, a phantom of the air!”
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Strange sounds they were to her.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Strange sounds they were to her.
a series of chirps
From this reading A moment before she had been hearing only the goodnight song and twitter of birds.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading Strange sounds they were to her.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Body aquiver, her black eyes reflecting the light of the setting sun, Greta stood intent, listening with all her ears.
Chapter 3 of The Phantom Violin by Roy J. (Roy Judson) Snell holds 144 sentences, grouped into 29 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 3 holds 144 sentences of The Phantom Violin, unabridged, divided into 29 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 3 of The Phantom Violin by Roy J. (Roy Judson) Snell exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 144 sentences, grouped into 29 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 29 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 29 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 3 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 Phantom Violin by Roy J. (Roy Judson) Snell on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4180 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #44294 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #44294, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 348 minutes of reading across 836 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Phantom Violin section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 28 chapters of The Phantom Violin 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 Phantom Violin, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
