Chapter 6 of Tom the telephone boy is here in full — 141 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VI
Chapter 6 of Tom the telephone boy is here in full — 141 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others. “No use,” he said dolefully, “it’s gone! I must have dropped it after I left the house. What’s to be done?” The situation was serious for the lad.
Chapter 6 of Tom the telephone boy is here in full — 141 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/28 · 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.
inflected form of “drop” — let fall to the ground
From this reading “I must have dropped it after I left the house.”
excessively quick
From this reading “OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.”
a boy or man
From this reading “The situation was serious for the lad.”
a small pouch inside a garment for carrying small articles
From this reading “OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.”
try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of
From this reading “OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.”
concerned with work or important matters rather than play or trivialities
From this reading “The situation was serious for the lad.”
the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time
From this reading “The situation was serious for the lad.”
the process of using your mind to consider something carefully
From this reading “OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.”
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.
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 OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
later than; following
From this reading I must have dropped it after I left the house.
(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 OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading What’s to be done?”
with sadness; in a sorrowful manner
From this reading “No use,” he said dolefully, “it’s gone!
having finished or arrived at completion
From this reading What’s to be done?”
inflected form of “drop” — let fall to the ground
From this reading I must have dropped it after I left the house.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading The situation was serious for the lad.
destroyed or killed
From this reading “No use,” he said dolefully, “it’s gone!
excessively quick
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
a dwelling that serves as living quarters for one or more families
From this reading I must have dropped it after I left the house.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I must have dropped it after I left the house.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading I must have dropped it after I left the house.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “No use,” he said dolefully, “it’s gone!
a boy or man
From this reading The situation was serious for the lad.
location near or direction toward the left side; i.e. the side to the north when a person or object faces east
From this reading I must have dropped it after I left the house.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
used to say something is possible but not certain
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading I must have dropped it after I left the house.
not any; not one
From this reading “No use,” he said dolefully, “it’s gone!
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
a small pouch inside a garment for carrying small articles
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
precisely, exactly
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “No use,” he said dolefully, “it’s gone!
try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
concerned with work or important matters rather than play or trivialities
From this reading The situation was serious for the lad.
the general state of things; the combination of circumstances at a given time
From this reading The situation was serious for the lad.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
the process of using your mind to consider something carefully
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading What’s to be done?”
male cat
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
the act of using
From this reading “No use,” he said dolefully, “it’s gone!
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The situation was serious for the lad.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading What’s to be done?”
exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
From this reading OUT OF WORK Thinking he might not have looked in the right pocket, Tom made a hasty search through all the others.
Chapter 6 of Tom the telephone boy by Frank V. Webster holds 141 sentences, grouped into 29 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 6 holds 141 sentences of Tom the telephone boy, unabridged, divided into 29 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 6 of Tom the telephone boy by Frank V. Webster exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 141 sentences, grouped into 29 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 29 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 29 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 6 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 Tom the telephone boy by Frank V. Webster on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Tom the telephone boy section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of Tom the telephone boy 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 Tom the telephone boy, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
