Chapter 2 of The Prodigal Village: A Christmas Tale is here in full — 460 sentences across 92 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of The Prodigal Village: A Christmas Tale is here in full — 460 sentences across 92 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"Mother and I do as we please and say nothing," said Phyllis. "We never tell father anything. Men don't understand." Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes. There had been a curious undercurrent in the party.
Chapter 2 of The Prodigal Village: A Christmas Tale is here in full — 460 sentences across 92 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/92 · 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.
any thing at all
From this reading “"We never tell father anything.”
beyond or deviating from the usual or expected
From this reading “There had been a curious undercurrent in the party.”
plural of “girl” — a young female
From this reading “Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes.”
an organization to gain political power
From this reading “There had been a curious undercurrent in the party.”
give pleasure to or be pleasing to
From this reading “"Mother and I do as we please and say nothing," said Phyllis.”
past form of “smile” — change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading “Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes.”
a subdued emotional quality underlying an utterance; implicit meaning
From this reading “There had been a curious undercurrent in the party.”
know and comprehend the nature or meaning of
From this reading “Men don't understand."”
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.
investigate scientifically
In this reading “Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes.”
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 had been a curious undercurrent in the party.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading "Mother and I do as we please and say nothing," said Phyllis.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes.
any thing at all
From this reading "We never tell father anything.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading "Mother and I do as we please and say nothing," said Phyllis.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading There had been a curious undercurrent in the party.
beyond or deviating from the usual or expected
From this reading There had been a curious undercurrent in the party.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading "Mother and I do as we please and say nothing," said Phyllis.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Men don't understand."
opinion or judgment
From this reading Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes.
a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading "We never tell father anything.
plural of “girl” — a young female
From this reading Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading There had been a curious undercurrent in the party.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "Mother and I do as we please and say nothing," said Phyllis.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading There had been a curious undercurrent in the party.
moving to the inside of something
From this reading Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes.
the force of workers available
From this reading Men don't understand."
a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading "Mother and I do as we please and say nothing," said Phyllis.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading "We never tell father anything.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading "Mother and I do as we please and say nothing," said Phyllis.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes.
an organization to gain political power
From this reading There had been a curious undercurrent in the party.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Mother and I do as we please and say nothing," said Phyllis.
give pleasure to or be pleasing to
From this reading "Mother and I do as we please and say nothing," said Phyllis.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading "Mother and I do as we please and say nothing," said Phyllis.
express in words
From this reading "Mother and I do as we please and say nothing," said Phyllis.
past form of “smile” — change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes.
express in words
From this reading "We never tell father anything.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Some of the girls smiled and looked into one another's eyes.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There had been a curious undercurrent in the party.
a subdued emotional quality underlying an utterance; implicit meaning
From this reading There had been a curious undercurrent in the party.
know and comprehend the nature or meaning of
From this reading Men don't understand."
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading "Mother and I do as we please and say nothing," said Phyllis.
Chapter 2 of The Prodigal Village: A Christmas Tale by Irving Bacheller holds 460 sentences, grouped into 92 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 2 holds 460 sentences of The Prodigal Village: A Christmas Tale, unabridged, divided into 92 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of The Prodigal Village: A Christmas Tale by Irving Bacheller exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 460 sentences, grouped into 92 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 92 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 92 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 2 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 Prodigal Village: A Christmas Tale by Irving Bacheller on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1846 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #44796 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #44796, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 153 minutes of reading across 370 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Prodigal Village: A Christmas Tale section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 4 chapters of The Prodigal Village: A Christmas Tale 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 Prodigal Village: A Christmas Tale, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
