Chapter 1 of The White Christmas and other Merry is here in full — 353 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The White Christmas and other Merry is here in full — 353 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
RUTH. I'll fly, dear mother, like an arrow home. (_Runs out at L._) ANNA. We must not tarry. Come, my Thomas, come!
Chapter 1 of The White Christmas and other Merry is here in full — 353 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 27/70 · 5 reading units · Lines 131–135
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 former copper coin of Pakistan and India
From this reading “(_Runs out at L._) ANNA.”
a mark to indicate a direction or relation
From this reading “I'll fly, dear mother, like an arrow home.”
dearly loved
From this reading “I'll fly, dear mother, like an arrow home.”
travel through the air; be airborne
From this reading “I'll fly, dear mother, like an arrow home.”
plural of “run” — a score in baseball made by a runner touching all four bases safely
United States professional baseball player famous for hitting home runs (1895-1948)
From this reading “RUTH.”
be about
From this reading “We must not tarry.”
United States clockmaker who introduced mass production (1785-1859)
From this reading “Come, my Thomas, come!”
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 “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading I'll fly, dear mother, like an arrow home.
a former copper coin of Pakistan and India
From this reading (_Runs out at L._) ANNA.
a mark to indicate a direction or relation
From this reading I'll fly, dear mother, like an arrow home.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading (_Runs out at L._) ANNA.
move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading Come, my Thomas, come!
dearly loved
From this reading I'll fly, dear mother, like an arrow home.
travel through the air; be airborne
From this reading I'll fly, dear mother, like an arrow home.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading I'll fly, dear mother, like an arrow home.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I'll fly, dear mother, like an arrow home.
a metric unit of capacity, formerly defined as the volume of one kilogram of pure water under standard conditions; now equal to 1,000 cubic centimeters (or approximately 1.75 pints)
From this reading (_Runs out at L._) ANNA.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading I'll fly, dear mother, like an arrow home.
a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading I'll fly, dear mother, like an arrow home.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading We must not tarry.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading Come, my Thomas, come!
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading We must not tarry.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading (_Runs out at L._) ANNA.
plural of “run” — a score in baseball made by a runner touching all four bases safely
From this reading (_Runs out at L._) ANNA.
United States professional baseball player famous for hitting home runs (1895-1948)
From this reading RUTH.
be about
From this reading We must not tarry.
United States clockmaker who introduced mass production (1785-1859)
From this reading Come, my Thomas, come!
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading We must not tarry.
Chapter 1 of The White Christmas and other Merry by Walter Ben Hare holds 353 sentences, grouped into 71 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 353 sentences of The White Christmas and other Merry, unabridged, divided into 71 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The White Christmas and other Merry by Walter Ben Hare exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 353 sentences, grouped into 71 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 71 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 71 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 White Christmas and other Merry by Walter Ben Hare on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4783 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #19826 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #19826, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 398 minutes of reading across 957 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The White Christmas and other Merry section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 12 chapters of The White Christmas and other Merry 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 White Christmas and other Merry, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
