Chapter 21 of The pit is here in full — 402 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXI
Chapter 21 of The pit is here in full — 402 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self? Self, self. Had she been selfish from the very first? What real interest had she taken in her husband's work? "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
Chapter 21 of The pit is here in full — 402 sentences across 81 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.
something intended to communicate a particular impression
From this reading “Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?”
put on clothes
From this reading “Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?”
the act of making some area of land or water more profitable or productive or useful
From this reading “Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?”
possessive form of “husband” — a married man; a woman's partner in marriage
From this reading “What real interest had she taken in her husband's work?”
a ceremonial procession including people marching
From this reading “Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?”
your consciousness of your own identity
From this reading “Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?”
concerned chiefly or only with yourself and your advantage to the exclusion of others
From this reading “Had she been selfish from the very first?”
be the winner in a contest or competition; be victorious
From this reading “Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?”
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.
later than; following
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
(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 Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
having undesirable or negative qualities
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
the qualities that give pleasure to the senses
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Had she been selfish from the very first?
something intended to communicate a particular impression
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
put on clothes
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
the act of making some area of land or water more profitable or productive or useful
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
start firing a weapon
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
preceding all others in time or space or degree
From this reading Had she been selfish from the very first?
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading Had she been selfish from the very first?
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Had she been selfish from the very first?
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
give help or assistance; be of service
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
a married man; a woman's partner in marriage
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
possessive form of “husband” — a married man; a woman's partner in marriage
From this reading What real interest had she taken in her husband's work?
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading What real interest had she taken in her husband's work?
a sense of concern with and curiosity about someone or something
From this reading What real interest had she taken in her husband's work?
moving to the inside of something
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
a ceremonial procession including people marching
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
being or occurring in fact or actuality; having verified existence; not illusory
From this reading What real interest had she taken in her husband's work?
precisely, exactly
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
your consciousness of your own identity
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
concerned chiefly or only with yourself and your advantage to the exclusion of others
From this reading Had she been selfish from the very first?
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Had she been selfish from the very first?
understood in a certain way; made sense of
From this reading What real interest had she taken in her husband's work?
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
precisely as stated
From this reading Had she been selfish from the very first?
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
used to ask for information about something
From this reading What real interest had she taken in her husband's work?
be the winner in a contest or competition; be victorious
From this reading Was this, after all, the right way to win her husband back to her--this display of her beauty, this parade of dress, this exploitation of self?
exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
From this reading What real interest had she taken in her husband's work?
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
not correct; not in conformity with fact or truth
From this reading "Right or wrong, good or bad, I would put my two hands into the fire to help him."
Chapter 21 of The pit by Frank Norris holds 402 sentences, grouped into 81 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 21 holds 402 sentences of The pit, unabridged, divided into 81 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 21 of The pit by Frank Norris exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 402 sentences, grouped into 81 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 81 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 81 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 21 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 pit by Frank Norris on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 8642 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #4382 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #4382, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1729 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The pit section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 21 chapters of The pit 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 pit, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
