Chapter 1 of The Young Section-Hand is here in full — 189 sentences across 38 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Young Section-Hand is here in full — 189 sentences across 38 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“Excuse me, sir, but do you need a man?” Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P. & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment. “A man, yes,” he said, at last. “But not a boy.
Chapter 1 of The Young Section-Hand is here in full — 189 sentences across 38 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/37 · 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.
an army unit large enough to sustain combat
From this reading “Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.”
a person who exercises control over workers
From this reading “Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.”
past form of “inspect” — look over carefully
From this reading “& O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.”
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading “Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.”
a self-contained part of a larger composition (written or musical)
From this reading “Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.”
someone who expresses in language; someone who talks (especially someone who delivers a public speech or someone especially garrulous)
From this reading “& O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.”
the cardinal number that is the sum of twenty and one
From this reading “Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.”
a native or resident of Wales
From this reading “Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.”
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.
temporarily
In this reading “& O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.”
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 “Excuse me, sir, but do you need a man?”
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.
surrounding, or on every side of, something
From this reading & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.
a youthful male person
From this reading “But not a boy.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading “Excuse me, sir, but do you need a man?”
an army unit large enough to sustain combat
From this reading Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading “Excuse me, sir, but do you need a man?”
accept an excuse for
From this reading “Excuse me, sir, but do you need a man?”
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.
a person who exercises control over workers
From this reading Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading “A man, yes,” he said, at last.
past form of “inspect” — look over carefully
From this reading & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.
a small worthless amount
From this reading Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.
immediately past
From this reading “A man, yes,” he said, at last.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading “Excuse me, sir, but do you need a man?”
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading “Excuse me, sir, but do you need a man?”
a particular point in time
From this reading & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.
a condition requiring relief
From this reading “Excuse me, sir, but do you need a man?”
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading “But not a boy.
a nonmetallic bivalent element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless nonflammable diatomic gas; constitutes 21 percent of the atmosphere by volume; the most abundant element in the earth's crust
From this reading & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.
a multivalent nonmetallic element of the nitrogen family that occurs commonly in inorganic phosphate rocks and as organic phosphates in all living cells; is highly reactive and occurs in several allotropic forms
From this reading Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “A man, yes,” he said, at last.
a self-contained part of a larger composition (written or musical)
From this reading Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.
in an aggressive manner
From this reading & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.
term of address for a man
From this reading “Excuse me, sir, but do you need a man?”
the particular auditory effect produced by a given cause
From this reading & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.
someone who expresses in language; someone who talks (especially someone who delivers a public speech or someone especially garrulous)
From this reading & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.
moved around an axis or center
From this reading & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.
the cardinal number that is the sum of twenty and one
From this reading Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.
the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech
From this reading & O., turned sharply around at sound of the voice and inspected the speaker for a moment.
a native or resident of Wales
From this reading Jack Welsh, foreman of Section Twenty-one, on the Ohio division of the P.
an affirmative
From this reading “A man, yes,” he said, at last.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “Excuse me, sir, but do you need a man?”
Chapter 1 of The Young Section-Hand by Burton Egbert Stevenson holds 189 sentences, grouped into 38 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 189 sentences of The Young Section-Hand, unabridged, divided into 38 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Young Section-Hand by Burton Egbert Stevenson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 189 sentences, grouped into 38 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 38 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 38 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 Young Section-Hand by Burton Egbert Stevenson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3113 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #62830 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #62830, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 259 minutes of reading across 623 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Young Section-Hand section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 20 chapters of The Young Section-Hand 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 Young Section-Hand, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
