Chapter 14 of The Troll Garden, and Selected Stories is here in full — 169 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XIV
Chapter 14 of The Troll Garden, and Selected Stories is here in full — 169 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The train whistled. The conductor came in, smiling not unkindly. “Well, young man, what are you going to do? We stop at Red Oak in three minutes.” “Yes, thank you.
Chapter 14 of The Troll Garden, and Selected Stories is here in full — 169 sentences across 34 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/33 · 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 person who leads a musical group
From this reading “The conductor came in, smiling not unkindly.”
a written account of what transpired at a meeting
From this reading “We stop at Red Oak in three minutes.””
the hard durable wood of any oak; used especially for furniture and flooring
From this reading “We stop at Red Oak in three minutes.””
a facial expression characterized by turning up the corners of the mouth; usually shows pleasure or amusement
From this reading “The conductor came in, smiling not unkindly.”
come to a halt, stop moving
From this reading “We stop at Red Oak in three minutes.””
express gratitude or show appreciation to
From this reading ““Yes, thank you.”
create by training and teaching
From this reading “The train whistled.”
past form of “whistle” — make whistling sounds
From this reading “The train whistled.”
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.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading “Well, young man, what are you going to do?
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading We stop at Red Oak in three minutes.”
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading The conductor came in, smiling not unkindly.
the person who leads a musical group
From this reading The conductor came in, smiling not unkindly.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading “Well, young man, what are you going to do?
the act of departing
From this reading “Well, young man, what are you going to do?
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The conductor came in, smiling not unkindly.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading “Well, young man, what are you going to do?
a written account of what transpired at a meeting
From this reading We stop at Red Oak in three minutes.”
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading The conductor came in, smiling not unkindly.
the hard durable wood of any oak; used especially for furniture and flooring
From this reading We stop at Red Oak in three minutes.”
red color or pigment; the chromatic color resembling the hue of blood
From this reading We stop at Red Oak in three minutes.”
a facial expression characterized by turning up the corners of the mouth; usually shows pleasure or amusement
From this reading The conductor came in, smiling not unkindly.
come to a halt, stop moving
From this reading We stop at Red Oak in three minutes.”
express gratitude or show appreciation to
From this reading “Yes, thank you.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The train whistled.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
From this reading We stop at Red Oak in three minutes.”
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “Well, young man, what are you going to do?
create by training and teaching
From this reading The train whistled.
lacking in sympathy and kindness
From this reading The conductor came in, smiling not unkindly.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading We stop at Red Oak in three minutes.”
(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, young man, what are you going to do?
used to ask for information about something
From this reading “Well, young man, what are you going to do?
past form of “whistle” — make whistling sounds
From this reading The train whistled.
an affirmative
From this reading “Yes, thank you.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “Well, young man, what are you going to do?
(used of living things especially persons) in an early period of life or development or growth
From this reading “Well, young man, what are you going to do?
Chapter 14 of The Troll Garden, and Selected Stories by Willa Cather holds 169 sentences, grouped into 34 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 14 holds 169 sentences of The Troll Garden, and Selected Stories, unabridged, divided into 34 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 14 of The Troll Garden, and Selected Stories by Willa Cather exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 169 sentences, grouped into 34 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 34 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 34 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 14 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 Troll Garden, and Selected Stories by Willa Cather on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4581 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #346 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #346, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 381 minutes of reading across 917 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Troll Garden, and Selected Stories section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 26 chapters of The Troll Garden, and Selected Stories 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 Troll Garden, and Selected Stories, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
