Chapter 8 of The Sins of the Father is here in full — 300 sentences across 60 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of The Sins of the Father is here in full — 300 sentences across 60 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
MAN TO MAN Cleo made good her vow of perfect service. In the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable. Her energy was exhaustless, her strength tireless. She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers. The men did no more loafing.
Chapter 8 of The Sins of the Father is here in full — 300 sentences across 60 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/60 · 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 very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk
From this reading “She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers.”
(physics) a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work; the units of energy are joules or ergs
From this reading “Her energy was exhaustless, her strength tireless.”
not to be dispensed with; essential
From this reading “In the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable.”
a field of cultivated and mowed grass
From this reading “She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers.”
almost; nearly
From this reading “In the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable.”
showing sustained enthusiastic action with unflagging vitality
From this reading “Her energy was exhaustless, her strength tireless.”
make a vow; promise
From this reading “MAN TO MAN Cleo made good her vow of perfect service.”
plural of “week” — any period of seven consecutive days
From this reading “In the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable.”
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 to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers.
a very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk
From this reading She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading MAN TO MAN Cleo made good her vow of perfect service.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading The men did no more loafing.
(physics) a thermodynamic quantity equivalent to the capacity of a physical system to do work; the units of energy are joules or ergs
From this reading Her energy was exhaustless, her strength tireless.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Her energy was exhaustless, her strength tireless.
plural of “flower” — a plant cultivated for its blooms or blossoms
From this reading She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers.
past form of “follow” — to travel behind, go after, come after
From this reading In the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading MAN TO MAN Cleo made good her vow of perfect service.
enjoying or showing or marked by joy or pleasure
From this reading She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading MAN TO MAN Cleo made good her vow of perfect service.
used when the woman or girl doing the action is also its object
From this reading In the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading In the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable.
not to be dispensed with; essential
From this reading In the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable.
(especially of promises or contracts) not violated or disregarded
From this reading She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers.
a field of cultivated and mowed grass
From this reading She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers.
having no employment
From this reading The men did no more loafing.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading MAN TO MAN Cleo made good her vow of perfect service.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading MAN TO MAN Cleo made good her vow of perfect service.
the force of workers available
From this reading The men did no more loafing.
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading The men did no more loafing.
a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers.
not any; not one
From this reading The men did no more loafing.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading MAN TO MAN Cleo made good her vow of perfect service.
and nothing more
From this reading She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers.
being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish
From this reading MAN TO MAN Cleo made good her vow of perfect service.
almost; nearly
From this reading In the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable.
work done by one person or group that benefits another
From this reading MAN TO MAN Cleo made good her vow of perfect service.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading In the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable.
the property of being physically or mentally strong
From this reading Her energy was exhaustless, her strength tireless.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading In the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable.
showing sustained enthusiastic action with unflagging vitality
From this reading Her energy was exhaustless, her strength tireless.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading MAN TO MAN Cleo made good her vow of perfect service.
make a vow; promise
From this reading MAN TO MAN Cleo made good her vow of perfect service.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Her energy was exhaustless, her strength tireless.
past form of “watch” — look attentively
From this reading She not only kept the baby and the little mother happy, she watched the lawn and the flowers.
plural of “week” — any period of seven consecutive days
From this reading In the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable.
used to introduce a clause giving more about a thing just mentioned
From this reading In the weeks which followed she made herself practically indispensable.
Chapter 8 of The Sins of the Father by Thomas, Jr. Dixon holds 300 sentences, grouped into 60 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 8 holds 300 sentences of The Sins of the Father, unabridged, divided into 60 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of The Sins of the Father by Thomas, Jr. Dixon exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 300 sentences, grouped into 60 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 60 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 60 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 8 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 Sins of the Father by Thomas, Jr. Dixon on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 8329 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #36666 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #36666, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1666 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Sins of the Father section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of The Sins of the Father 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 Sins of the Father, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
