Chapter 9 of The Promise of Air is here in full — 71 sentences across 15 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IX
Chapter 9 of The Promise of Air is here in full — 71 sentences across 15 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Mrs. Wimble felt the death in another manner. It disconnected her from life. It cut her off from a network of safe, accustomed grooves. Something solid she had clung to subsided under ground. A final link with childhood, youth, and beauty broke.
Chapter 9 of The Promise of Air is here in full — 71 sentences across 15 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/14 · 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 time of person's life when they are a child
From this reading “A final link with childhood, youth, and beauty broke.”
inflected form of “cling” — come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation
From this reading “Something solid she had clung to subsided under ground.”
(music) marked by or composed of disconnected parts or sounds; cut short crisply
From this reading “It disconnected her from life.”
plural of “groove” — a long narrow furrow cut either by a natural process (such as erosion) or by a tool (as e.g. a groove in a phonograph record)
From this reading “It cut her off from a network of safe, accustomed grooves.”
make a logical or causal connection
From this reading “A final link with childhood, youth, and beauty broke.”
an interconnected system of things or people
From this reading “It cut her off from a network of safe, accustomed grooves.”
characterized by good substantial quality
From this reading “Something solid she had clung to subsided under ground.”
past form of “subside” — wear off or die down
From this reading “Something solid she had clung to subsided under ground.”
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.
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 It cut her off from a network of safe, accustomed grooves.
commonly used or practiced; usual
From this reading It cut her off from a network of safe, accustomed grooves.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading A final link with childhood, youth, and beauty broke.
one more of the same kind, or a different one
From this reading Mrs. Wimble felt the death in another manner.
the qualities that give pleasure to the senses
From this reading A final link with childhood, youth, and beauty broke.
lacking funds
From this reading A final link with childhood, youth, and beauty broke.
the time of person's life when they are a child
From this reading A final link with childhood, youth, and beauty broke.
inflected form of “cling” — come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation
From this reading Something solid she had clung to subsided under ground.
separate with or as if with an instrument
From this reading It cut her off from a network of safe, accustomed grooves.
the event of dying or departure from life
From this reading Mrs. Wimble felt the death in another manner.
(music) marked by or composed of disconnected parts or sounds; cut short crisply
From this reading It disconnected her from life.
mat together and make felt-like
From this reading Mrs. Wimble felt the death in another manner.
occurring at or forming an end or termination
From this reading A final link with childhood, youth, and beauty broke.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading It disconnected her from life.
plural of “groove” — a long narrow furrow cut either by a natural process (such as erosion) or by a tool (as e.g. a groove in a phonograph record)
From this reading It cut her off from a network of safe, accustomed grooves.
the solid part of the earth's surface
From this reading Something solid she had clung to subsided under ground.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Something solid she had clung to subsided under ground.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading It disconnected her from life.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Mrs. Wimble felt the death in another manner.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It disconnected her from life.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading It disconnected her from life.
make a logical or causal connection
From this reading A final link with childhood, youth, and beauty broke.
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading Mrs. Wimble felt the death in another manner.
a form of address for a married woman
From this reading Mrs. Wimble felt the death in another manner.
an interconnected system of things or people
From this reading It cut her off from a network of safe, accustomed grooves.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading It cut her off from a network of safe, accustomed grooves.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading It cut her off from a network of safe, accustomed grooves.
free from danger or the risk of harm
From this reading It cut her off from a network of safe, accustomed grooves.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Something solid she had clung to subsided under ground.
characterized by good substantial quality
From this reading Something solid she had clung to subsided under ground.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading Something solid she had clung to subsided under ground.
past form of “subside” — wear off or die down
From this reading Something solid she had clung to subsided under ground.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Mrs. Wimble felt the death in another manner.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Something solid she had clung to subsided under ground.
below or beneath something; less than
From this reading Something solid she had clung to subsided under ground.
hand tool for boring holes
From this reading Mrs. Wimble felt the death in another manner.
in the company of; together with
From this reading A final link with childhood, youth, and beauty broke.
a young person (especially a young man or boy)
From this reading A final link with childhood, youth, and beauty broke.
Chapter 9 of The Promise of Air by Algernon Blackwood holds 71 sentences, grouped into 15 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 9 holds 71 sentences of The Promise of Air, unabridged, divided into 15 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 9 of The Promise of Air by Algernon Blackwood exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 71 sentences, grouped into 15 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 15 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 15 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 9 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 Promise of Air by Algernon Blackwood on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4507 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #35132 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #35132, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 375 minutes of reading across 902 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Promise of Air section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 19 chapters of The Promise of Air 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 Promise of Air, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
