Chapter 21 of The Valley of Squinting Windows is here in full — 129 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXI
Chapter 21 of The Valley of Squinting Windows is here in full — 129 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end. The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal. Ulick Shannon had returned to Dublin. This was the uneventful season in the valley. Mrs. Brennan, finding little to talk about, had grown quiet in herself.
Chapter 21 of The Valley of Squinting Windows is here in full — 129 sentences across 26 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.
capital and largest city and major port of the Irish Republic
From this reading “Ulick Shannon had returned to Dublin.”
(Old Testament) wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau
From this reading “The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.”
plural of “school” — an educational institution
From this reading “The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.”
United States electrical engineer who pioneered mathematical communication theory (1916-2001)
From this reading “Ulick Shannon had returned to Dublin.”
inflected form of “speed” — move hurridly
From this reading “The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end.”
marked by no noteworthy or significant events
From this reading “This was the uneventful season in the valley.”
leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure
From this reading “The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.”
grow smaller
From this reading “The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end.”
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.
to consider or examine in speech or writing
In this reading “Mrs. Brennan, finding little to talk about, had grown quiet in herself.”
In this reading “This was the uneventful season in the valley.”
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.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading Mrs. Brennan, finding little to talk about, had grown quiet in herself.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.
the month following July and preceding September
From this reading The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.
the event consisting of the start of something
From this reading The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Mrs. Brennan, finding little to talk about, had grown quiet in herself.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.
capital and largest city and major port of the Irish Republic
From this reading Ulick Shannon had returned to Dublin.
either extremity of something that has length
From this reading The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end.
the act of determining the properties of something, usually by research or calculation
From this reading Mrs. Brennan, finding little to talk about, had grown quiet in herself.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.
acknowledged as a supposition
From this reading The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.
destroyed or killed
From this reading The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.
(of animals) fully developed
From this reading Mrs. Brennan, finding little to talk about, had grown quiet in herself.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.
the -ing form of “have”
From this reading The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end.
used when the woman or girl doing the action is also its object
From this reading Mrs. Brennan, finding little to talk about, had grown quiet in herself.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading This was the uneventful season in the valley.
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading Mrs. Brennan, finding little to talk about, had grown quiet in herself.
a form of address for a married woman
From this reading Mrs. Brennan, finding little to talk about, had grown quiet in herself.
characterized by an absence or near absence of agitation or activity
From this reading Mrs. Brennan, finding little to talk about, had grown quiet in herself.
(Old Testament) wife of Isaac and mother of Jacob and Esau
From this reading The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.
past form of “return” — go or come back to place, condition, or activity where one has been before
From this reading Ulick Shannon had returned to Dublin.
plural of “school” — an educational institution
From this reading The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.
a period of the year marked by special events or activities in some field
From this reading This was the uneventful season in the valley.
United States electrical engineer who pioneered mathematical communication theory (1916-2001)
From this reading Ulick Shannon had returned to Dublin.
inflected form of “speed” — move hurridly
From this reading The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end.
the warmest season of the year; in the northern hemisphere it extends from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox
From this reading The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end.
exchange thoughts; talk with
From this reading Mrs. Brennan, finding little to talk about, had grown quiet in herself.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading This was the uneventful season in the valley.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Ulick Shannon had returned to Dublin.
marked by no noteworthy or significant events
From this reading This was the uneventful season in the valley.
leisure time away from work devoted to rest or pleasure
From this reading The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.
a long depression in the surface of the land that usually contains a river
From this reading The schools had given vacation, and Rebecca Kerr had gone away from the valley to Donegal.
grow smaller
From this reading The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The summer was beginning to wane, August having sped to its end.
Chapter 21 of The Valley of Squinting Windows by Brinsley MacNamara holds 129 sentences, grouped into 26 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 21 holds 129 sentences of The Valley of Squinting Windows, unabridged, divided into 26 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 21 of The Valley of Squinting Windows by Brinsley MacNamara exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 129 sentences, grouped into 26 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 26 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 26 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 21 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 Valley of Squinting Windows by Brinsley MacNamara on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4490 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #61102 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #61102, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 374 minutes of reading across 898 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Valley of Squinting Windows section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 33 chapters of The Valley of Squinting Windows 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 Valley of Squinting Windows, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
