Chapter 5 of The Vertical City is here in full — 385 sentences across 77 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of The Vertical City is here in full — 385 sentences across 77 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"My aunt died on the town, Gerald, I heard. I could have saved her all that if I had only known. She was cheap, aunt was. Poor soul! She never looked ahead."
Chapter 5 of The Vertical City is here in full — 385 sentences across 77 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/77 · 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.
at or in the front
From this reading “She never looked ahead."”
the sister of your father or mother; the wife of your uncle
From this reading “"My aunt died on the town, Gerald, I heard.”
relatively low in price or charging low prices
From this reading “She was cheap, aunt was.”
past form of “die” — pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
From this reading “"My aunt died on the town, Gerald, I heard.”
apprehended with certainty
From this reading “I could have saved her all that if I had only known.”
rescued; especially from the power and consequences of sin
From this reading “I could have saved her all that if I had only known.”
the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life
From this reading “Poor soul!”
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading “"My aunt died on the town, Gerald, I heard.”
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.
at or in the front
From this reading She never looked ahead."
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading I could have saved her all that if I had only known.
the sister of your father or mother; the wife of your uncle
From this reading "My aunt died on the town, Gerald, I heard.
relatively low in price or charging low prices
From this reading She was cheap, aunt was.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading I could have saved her all that if I had only known.
past form of “die” — pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
From this reading "My aunt died on the town, Gerald, I heard.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "My aunt died on the town, Gerald, I heard.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading I could have saved her all that if I had only known.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading I could have saved her all that if I had only known.
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading "My aunt died on the town, Gerald, I heard.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading I could have saved her all that if I had only known.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "My aunt died on the town, Gerald, I heard.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading I could have saved her all that if I had only known.
apprehended with certainty
From this reading I could have saved her all that if I had only known.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading She never looked ahead."
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading "My aunt died on the town, Gerald, I heard.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading She never looked ahead."
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading "My aunt died on the town, Gerald, I heard.
and nothing more
From this reading I could have saved her all that if I had only known.
deserving or inciting pity
From this reading Poor soul!
rescued; especially from the power and consequences of sin
From this reading I could have saved her all that if I had only known.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She was cheap, aunt was.
the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life
From this reading Poor soul!
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading I could have saved her all that if I had only known.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading "My aunt died on the town, Gerald, I heard.
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading "My aunt died on the town, Gerald, I heard.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading She was cheap, aunt was.
Chapter 5 of The Vertical City by Fannie Hurst holds 385 sentences, grouped into 77 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 5 holds 385 sentences of The Vertical City, unabridged, divided into 77 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of The Vertical City by Fannie Hurst exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 385 sentences, grouped into 77 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 77 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 77 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 5 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 Vertical City by Fannie Hurst on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5193 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #12659 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #12659, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 432 minutes of reading across 1039 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Vertical City section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 13 chapters of The Vertical City 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 Vertical City, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
