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.
That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid! It cannot be that any star, Only a star, can give so great a light. It frightens me. ANNA. All things are strange tonight.
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 57/70 · 5 reading units · Lines 281–285
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 “ANNA.”
third-person singular of “frighten” — cause fear in
From this reading “It frightens me.”
plural of “point” — a geometric element that has position but no extension
plural of “shine” — the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light
From this reading “That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!”
(astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
From this reading “It cannot be that any star, Only a star, can give so great a light.”
On the present night.
From this reading “All things are strange tonight.”
plural of “turn” — a circular segment of a curve
From this reading “That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!”
extraordinarily good or great; used especially as intensifiers
From this reading “That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!”
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 It cannot be that any star, Only a star, can give so great a light.
filled with fear or apprehension
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
(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 All things are strange tonight.
the form of “be” used with “I”
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
a former copper coin of Pakistan and India
From this reading ANNA.
one or some or every or all without specification
From this reading It cannot be that any star, Only a star, can give so great a light.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading All things are strange tonight.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading It cannot be that any star, Only a star, can give so great a light.
emitting or reflecting light readily or in large amounts
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
to be able to, or to be allowed to
From this reading It cannot be that any star, Only a star, can give so great a light.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It cannot be that any star, Only a star, can give so great a light.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
third-person singular of “frighten” — cause fear in
From this reading It frightens me.
cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading It cannot be that any star, Only a star, can give so great a light.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading It cannot be that any star, Only a star, can give so great a light.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
of comparatively little physical weight or density
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading It frightens me.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
and nothing more
From this reading It cannot be that any star, Only a star, can give so great a light.
plural of “point” — a geometric element that has position but no extension
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
plural of “shine” — the quality of being bright and sending out rays of light
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
(astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
From this reading It cannot be that any star, Only a star, can give so great a light.
being definitely out of the ordinary and unexpected; slightly odd or even a bit weird
From this reading All things are strange tonight.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
any movable possession (especially articles of clothing)
From this reading All things are strange tonight.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
On the present night.
From this reading All things are strange tonight.
plural of “turn” — a circular segment of a curve
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
extraordinarily good or great; used especially as intensifiers
From this reading That wondrous, wondrous light, (_Points up._) It turns the night to day, it shines so bright I am afraid!
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.
