Chapter 13 of The Road to Understanding is here in full — 230 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter XIII
Chapter 13 of The Road to Understanding is here in full — 230 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house. "Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager. "Nothing." "Nothing! But there must have been something!"
Chapter 13 of The Road to Understanding is here in full — 230 sentences across 46 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/46 · 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.
a fire (usually on a hill or tower) that can be seen from a distance
From this reading “A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.”
English chemist and physicist who formulated atomic theory and the law of partial pressures; gave the first description of red-green color blindness (1766-1844)
From this reading “A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.”
having or showing keen interest or intense desire or impatient expectancy
From this reading “"Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager.”
with impatience; in an impatient manner
From this reading “"Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager.”
confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy
From this reading “A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.”
past form of “prompt” — give an incentive for action
From this reading “"Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager.”
possessive form of “sister” — a female person who has the same parents as another person
From this reading “A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.”
possessive form of “woman” — an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading “A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.”
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 “A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.”
In this reading “A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.”
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 A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
later than; following
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading "Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager.
a fire (usually on a hill or tower) that can be seen from a distance
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading But there must have been something!"
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But there must have been something!"
a seat for one person, with a support for the back
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
English chemist and physicist who formulated atomic theory and the law of partial pressures; gave the first description of red-green color blindness (1766-1844)
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
the time during which someone's life continues
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
inflected form of “drop” — let fall to the ground
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
having or showing keen interest or intense desire or impatient expectancy
From this reading "Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager.
characterized by directness in manner or speech; without subtlety or evasion
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading But there must have been something!"
a local and well-defined elevation of the land
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
used when the man or boy doing the action is also its object
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
with impatience; in an impatient manner
From this reading "Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
moving to the inside of something
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
less than normal in degree or intensity or amount
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading "Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager.
a form of address for a married woman
From this reading "Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading But there must have been something!"
not one thing; not anything
From this reading "Nothing."
confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
past form of “prompt” — give an incentive for action
From this reading "Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager.
possessive form of “sister” — a female person who has the same parents as another person
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading But there must have been something!"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
in or at that place or location
From this reading But there must have been something!"
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
go to see a place, as for entertainment
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech
From this reading "Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading "Well?" prompted Mrs. Thayer, voice and manner impatiently eager.
possessive form of “woman” — an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A WOMAN'S WON'T Two days after his visit to Dalton, Frank Gleason dropped himself into a low chair in his sister's private sitting-room in the Beacon Hill house.
Chapter 13 of The Road to Understanding by Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter holds 230 sentences, grouped into 46 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 13 holds 230 sentences of The Road to Understanding, unabridged, divided into 46 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 13 of The Road to Understanding by Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 230 sentences, grouped into 46 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 46 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 46 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 13 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 Road to Understanding by Eleanor H. (Eleanor Hodgman) Porter on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6916 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #35093 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #35093, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 576 minutes of reading across 1384 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Road to Understanding section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 26 chapters of The Road to Understanding 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 Road to Understanding, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
