Chapter 1 of The Weirdest World is here in full — 542 sentences across 109 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Weirdest World is here in full — 542 sentences across 109 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Odd planet! The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them. In short, they were pathetic--and deadly! As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer. Nine long days of bickering!
Chapter 1 of The Weirdest World is here in full — 542 sentences across 109 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/108 · 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.
financial assistance in time of need
From this reading “As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.”
a quarrel about petty points
From this reading “Nine long days of bickering!”
causing or capable of causing death
From this reading “In short, they were pathetic--and deadly!”
an organization of missionaries in a foreign land sent to carry on religious work
From this reading “As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.”
deserving or inciting pity
From this reading “In short, they were pathetic--and deadly!”
inferior in rank or status
From this reading “As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.”
(astronomy) any of the nine large celestial bodies in the solar system that revolve around the sun and shine by reflected light
From this reading “Odd planet!”
anything (such as a document or a phonograph record or a photograph) providing permanent evidence of or information about past events
From this reading “As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.”
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.
In this reading “The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.”
In this reading “As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.”
In this reading “The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.”
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 “I”
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
earlier than; in front of
From this reading The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.
financial assistance in time of need
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
a quarrel about petty points
From this reading Nine long days of bickering!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.
the men and women who man a vehicle (ship, aircraft, etc.)
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
the time during which someone's life continues
From this reading Nine long days of bickering!
causing or capable of causing death
From this reading In short, they were pathetic--and deadly!
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.
cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
plural of “head” — the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.
a specific instance of feeling hopeful
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading In short, they were pathetic--and deadly!
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading Nine long days of bickering!
no longer in your possession or control; unable to be found or recovered
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
used to say something is possible, or to give permission
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
an organization of missionaries in a foreign land sent to carry on religious work
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
the cardinal number that is the sum of eight and one
From this reading Nine long days of bickering!
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
not divisible by two
From this reading Odd planet!
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
and nothing more
From this reading The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.
not the same one or ones already mentioned or implied
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
deserving or inciting pity
From this reading In short, they were pathetic--and deadly!
inferior in rank or status
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
(astronomy) any of the nine large celestial bodies in the solar system that revolve around the sun and shine by reflected light
From this reading Odd planet!
anything (such as a document or a phonograph record or a photograph) providing permanent evidence of or information about past events
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
cut with a saw
From this reading The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.
primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration
From this reading In short, they were pathetic--and deadly!
an instance of visual perception
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
past form of “talk” — exchange thoughts; talk with
From this reading The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading In short, they were pathetic--and deadly!
plural of “thought” — the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading In short, they were pathetic--and deadly!
used to ask for information about something
From this reading The bipeds talked from their heads and saw only what lay before them.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
not having, not using, or not accompanied by
From this reading As I am now utterly without hope, lost to my mission and lost in the sight of my crew, I will record what petty thoughts I may have for what benefit they may give some other starfarer.
Chapter 1 of The Weirdest World by R. A. Lafferty holds 542 sentences, grouped into 109 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 1 holds 542 sentences of The Weirdest World, unabridged, divided into 109 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Weirdest World by R. A. Lafferty exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 542 sentences, grouped into 109 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 109 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 109 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 1 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 Weirdest World by R. A. Lafferty on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 542 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #51774 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #51774, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 45 minutes of reading across 109 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Weirdest World section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of The Weirdest World 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 Weirdest World, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
