Chapter 23 of The Rambler Club Afloat is here in full — 125 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIII
Chapter 23 of The Rambler Club Afloat is here in full — 125 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it. Sure you're not joking?" "Amazing--that's the word! I wonder what their game is now. H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."
Chapter 23 of The Rambler Club Afloat is here in full — 125 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/25 · 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.
surprising greatly
From this reading “"Amazing--that's the word!”
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 “WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.”
move up and down repeatedly
From this reading “WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.”
pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading “H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."”
a contest with rules to determine a winner
From this reading “I wonder what their game is now.”
characterized by jokes and good humor
From this reading “Sure you're not joking?"”
completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
From this reading “H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."”
any or all of a kind, it does not matter which
From this reading “H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."”
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 “WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.”
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.
surprising greatly
From this reading "Amazing--that's the word!
any thing at all
From this reading WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.
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 WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.
stupefied by alcoholic drink
From this reading H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."
accept as true; take to be true
From this reading WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.
move up and down repeatedly
From this reading WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."
to be able to, or to be allowed to
From this reading WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.
pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."
at any time
From this reading WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.
a contest with rules to determine a winner
From this reading I wonder what their game is now.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."
only a very short time before
From this reading WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading I wonder what their game is now.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.
characterized by jokes and good humor
From this reading Sure you're not joking?"
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading Sure you're not joking?"
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading I wonder what their game is now.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."
cut with a saw
From this reading WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.
having or feeling no doubt or uncertainty; confident and assured
From this reading Sure you're not joking?"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Amazing--that's the word!
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading "Amazing--that's the word!
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading I wonder what their game is now.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."
completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
From this reading H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."
used to ask for information about something
From this reading WHAT BOB SAW "It beats anything I ever heard of--I can hardly believe it.
any or all of a kind, it does not matter which
From this reading H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."
the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising
From this reading I wonder what their game is now.
a unit of language that native speakers can identify
From this reading "Amazing--that's the word!
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading H'm, I'm utterly befogged, or whatever you choose to call it."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Sure you're not joking?"
Chapter 23 of The Rambler Club Afloat by W. Crispin (William Crispin) Sheppard holds 125 sentences, grouped into 25 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 23 holds 125 sentences of The Rambler Club Afloat, unabridged, divided into 25 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 23 of The Rambler Club Afloat by W. Crispin (William Crispin) Sheppard exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 125 sentences, grouped into 25 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 25 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 25 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 23 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 Rambler Club Afloat by W. Crispin (William Crispin) Sheppard on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Rambler Club Afloat section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of The Rambler Club Afloat 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 Rambler Club Afloat, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
