Chapter 24 of The pot of basil is here in full — 80 sentences across 16 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIV
Chapter 24 of The pot of basil is here in full — 80 sentences across 16 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
RAPTURE “It is only for one hurried moment. I dare not stop. O, my heart beats so!” He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak. In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
Chapter 24 of The pot of basil is here in full — 80 sentences across 16 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/16 · 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.
spiritual being attendant upon God
From this reading “In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.”
a United States youth subculture of the 1950s; rejected possessions or regular work or traditional dress; for communal living and psychedelic drugs and anarchism; favored modern forms of jazz (e.g., bebop)
From this reading “O, my heart beats so!””
wearing or provided with clothing; sometimes used in combination
From this reading “In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.”
make full, also in a metaphorical sense
From this reading “He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.”
a physiological need for food; the consequence of food deprivation
From this reading “He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.”
having or expressing strong emotions
From this reading “In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.”
seen in the mind as a mental image
From this reading “In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.”
a state of being carried away by overwhelming emotion
From this reading “RAPTURE “It is only for one hurried moment.”
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 “O, my heart beats so!””
In this reading “He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.”
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 He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
(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 In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
spiritual being attendant upon God
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
a United States youth subculture of the 1950s; rejected possessions or regular work or traditional dress; for communal living and psychedelic drugs and anarchism; favored modern forms of jazz (e.g., bebop)
From this reading O, my heart beats so!”
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
wearing or provided with clothing; sometimes used in combination
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
take upon oneself; act presumptuously, without permission
From this reading I dare not stop.
the event of dying or departure from life
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
plural of “dream” — a series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
past form of “fail” — fail to do something; leave something undone
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
make full, also in a metaphorical sense
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading RAPTURE “It is only for one hurried moment.
past form of “gaze” — look at with fixed eyes
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
the locus of feelings and intuitions
From this reading O, my heart beats so!”
occupied or in the control of; often used in combination
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
a physiological need for food; the consequence of food deprivation
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
moving rapidly or performed quickly or in great haste
From this reading RAPTURE “It is only for one hurried moment.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I dare not stop.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading RAPTURE “It is only for one hurried moment.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading RAPTURE “It is only for one hurried moment.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
a unit of time equal to 60 seconds or 1/60th of an hour
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
a particular point in time
From this reading RAPTURE “It is only for one hurried moment.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading O, my heart beats so!”
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading I dare not stop.
a nonmetallic bivalent element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless nonflammable diatomic gas; constitutes 21 percent of the atmosphere by volume; the most abundant element in the earth's crust
From this reading O, my heart beats so!”
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading RAPTURE “It is only for one hurried moment.
and nothing more
From this reading RAPTURE “It is only for one hurried moment.
having or expressing strong emotions
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
seen in the mind as a mental image
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
a state of being carried away by overwhelming emotion
From this reading RAPTURE “It is only for one hurried moment.
tending to return to an earlier state
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading O, my heart beats so!”
the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
express in speech
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
come to a halt, stop moving
From this reading I dare not stop.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading In all his passionate dreams he had never pictured her as returning to him like this--black clad--like an angel of death.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading He held her hands; he gazed as if he could never fill the hunger of his soul; for a minute he failed to speak.
Chapter 24 of The pot of basil by Bernard Capes holds 80 sentences, grouped into 16 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 24 holds 80 sentences of The pot of basil, unabridged, divided into 16 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 24 of The pot of basil by Bernard Capes exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 80 sentences, grouped into 16 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 16 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 16 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 24 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.
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Words and structures a reader meets early in The pot of basil, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
