Chapter 6 of Venna Hastings is here in full — 177 sentences across 36 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VI
Chapter 6 of Venna Hastings is here in full — 177 sentences across 36 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on. Venna sat alone at lunch, idly toying with her food. Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face. "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away. You're right pale, you are."
Chapter 6 of Venna Hastings is here in full — 177 sentences across 36 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/35 · 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 “busy” — keep busy with
From this reading “Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.”
encouragement in the form of cheers from spectators
From this reading “Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on.”
something that interests you because it is important or affects you
From this reading “Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.”
in an idle manner
From this reading “Venna sat alone at lunch, idly toying with her food.”
a woman of refinement
From this reading “"Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.”
something offered (as a proposal or bid)
From this reading “Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.”
United States minimalist painter (born in 1936)
From this reading “Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.”
playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest
From this reading “Venna sat alone at lunch, idly toying with her food.”
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.
move away from a place into another direction
In this reading “"Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.”
In this reading “Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.”
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.
Having no one else present.
From this reading Venna sat alone at lunch, idly toying with her food.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on.
one more of the same kind, or a different one
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
any thing at all
From this reading "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on.
surrounding, or on every side of, something
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Venna sat alone at lunch, idly toying with her food.
the sister of your father or mother; the wife of your uncle
From this reading "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on.
inflected form of “busy” — keep busy with
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.
encouragement in the form of cheers from spectators
From this reading Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on.
something that interests you because it is important or affects you
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
inflected form of “eat” — take in solid food
From this reading "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.
accept an excuse for
From this reading "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
preceding all others in time or space or degree
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
any substance that can be metabolized by an animal to give energy and build tissue
From this reading Venna sat alone at lunch, idly toying with her food.
showing or causing joy and pleasure; especially made happy
From this reading Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on.
only a very short time before
From this reading "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Venna sat alone at lunch, idly toying with her food.
used when the woman or girl doing the action is also its object
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
not disposed to cheat or defraud; not deceptive or fraudulent
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
in an idle manner
From this reading Venna sat alone at lunch, idly toying with her food.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
and nothing more
From this reading Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on.
cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., “keep clean”
From this reading Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on.
the experience of being alive; the course of human events and activities
From this reading Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on.
take the midday meal
From this reading Venna sat alone at lunch, idly toying with her food.
a woman of refinement
From this reading "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.
an adulterous woman; a woman who has an ongoing extramarital sexual relationship with a man
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
something offered (as a proposal or bid)
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
very light colored; highly diluted with white
From this reading You're right pale, you are."
being or occurring in fact or actuality; having verified existence; not illusory
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
precisely, exactly
From this reading You're right pale, you are."
the seventh and last day of the week; observed as the Sabbath by Jews and some Christians
From this reading Venna sat alone at lunch, idly toying with her food.
from a time in the past until now
From this reading "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.
a person, without saying who
From this reading Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on.
United States minimalist painter (born in 1936)
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
a special situation
From this reading Stella busied herself around her mistress, offering first one thing and then another, with real concern in her honest face.
playful behavior intended to arouse sexual interest
From this reading Venna sat alone at lunch, idly toying with her food.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Venna sat alone at lunch, idly toying with her food.
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Venna sat alone at lunch, idly toying with her food.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Just be glad that you are living and keep cheering someone on.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading You're right pale, you are."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "Excuse me, ma'am, but you've hardly eaten anything since your aunt went away.
Chapter 6 of Venna Hastings by Julia Farr holds 177 sentences, grouped into 36 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 177 sentences of Venna Hastings, unabridged, divided into 36 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 6 of Venna Hastings by Julia Farr exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 177 sentences, grouped into 36 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 36 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 36 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 Venna Hastings by Julia Farr on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3896 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #52552 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #52552, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 324 minutes of reading across 780 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Venna Hastings section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 19 chapters of Venna Hastings 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 Venna Hastings, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
