Chapter 17 of The Victim and The Worm is here in full — 130 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XVII
Chapter 17 of The Victim and The Worm is here in full — 130 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart. In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset. It played the part of a chaperone. No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s. It had never occurred to Peter to marry any one but Onoria.
Chapter 17 of The Victim and The Worm is here in full — 130 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/26 · 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 useful or valuable quality
From this reading “In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.”
one who accompanies and supervises a young woman or gatherings of young people
From this reading “It played the part of a chaperone.”
something unspecified whose name is either forgotten or not known
From this reading “Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.”
unmistakably (“plain” is often used informally for “plainly”)
From this reading “No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.”
inflected form of “occur” — come to pass
From this reading “It had never occurred to Peter to marry any one but Onoria.”
possessive form of “peter” — disciple of Jesus and leader of the Apostles; regarded by Catholics as the vicar of Christ on earth and first Pope
(of games) engaged in
From this reading “It played the part of a chaperone.”
at a steady rate or pace
From this reading “No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.”
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.
devastating sorrow and despair
In this reading “Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.”
more attention and consideration than is normally bestowed by prudent persons
In this reading “Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.”
In this reading “No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.”
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 In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
at all times; all the time and on every occasion
From this reading Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.
one or some or every or all without specification
From this reading It had never occurred to Peter to marry any one but Onoria.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.
a useful or valuable quality
From this reading In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
physically and forcibly separated into pieces or cracked or split
From this reading Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading It had never occurred to Peter to marry any one but Onoria.
the work of providing treatment for or attending to someone or something
From this reading Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.
one who accompanies and supervises a young woman or gatherings of young people
From this reading It played the part of a chaperone.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.
regard something as probable or likely
From this reading No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.
containing as much or as many as is possible or normal
From this reading In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.
something unspecified whose name is either forgotten or not known
From this reading Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.
the locus of feelings and intuitions
From this reading Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.
of great significance or value
From this reading In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.
of girls or women who are eligible to marry
From this reading In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
take in marriage
From this reading No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading It had never occurred to Peter to marry any one but Onoria.
not any; not one
From this reading No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.
unmistakably (“plain” is often used informally for “plainly”)
From this reading No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.
inflected form of “occur” — come to pass
From this reading It had never occurred to Peter to marry any one but Onoria.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It had never occurred to Peter to marry any one but Onoria.
something determined in relation to something that includes it
From this reading It played the part of a chaperone.
disciple of Jesus and leader of the Apostles; regarded by Catholics as the vicar of Christ on earth and first Pope
From this reading Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.
possessive form of “peter” — disciple of Jesus and leader of the Apostles; regarded by Catholics as the vicar of Christ on earth and first Pope
From this reading No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.
a point located with respect to surface features of some region
From this reading In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
(of games) engaged in
From this reading It played the part of a chaperone.
at a steady rate or pace
From this reading No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.
understood in a certain way; made sense of
From this reading Peter Gubbins had always taken great care of his broken heart.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading It played the part of a chaperone.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.
precisely as stated
From this reading In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
belonging to which person
From this reading No one could expect to marry a man whose heart was as steadily and obviously broken as Peter’s.
plural of “woman” — an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading In a place like Little Ticklington full of marriageable women, it was a very important asset.
Chapter 17 of The Victim and The Worm by Phyllis Bottome holds 130 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 17 holds 130 sentences of The Victim and The Worm, unabridged, divided into 26 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 17 of The Victim and The Worm by Phyllis Bottome exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 130 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 17 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 Victim and The Worm by Phyllis Bottome on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2858 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #75526 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #75526, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 238 minutes of reading across 572 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Victim and The Worm section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 20 chapters of The Victim and The Worm 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 Victim and The Worm, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
