Chapter 20 of We Can't Have Everything: A Novel is here in full — 266 sentences across 54 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XX
Chapter 20 of We Can't Have Everything: A Novel is here in full — 266 sentences across 54 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Kedzie was alone. She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders. She had had a good cry when she reached home. She had pondered her little brain into a kink, trying to figure out her campaign. When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.
Chapter 20 of We Can't Have Everything: A Novel is here in full — 266 sentences across 54 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/53 · 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.
a race between candidates for elective office
From this reading “She had pondered her little brain into a kink, trying to figure out her campaign.”
something or someone that causes anxiety; a source of unhappiness
From this reading “She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders.”
a state of comatose torpor (as found in sleeping sickness)
From this reading “When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.”
past form of “ponder” — reflect deeply on a subject
From this reading “She had pondered her little brain into a kink, trying to figure out her campaign.”
a solid substance in the form of tiny loose particles; a solid that has been pulverized
From this reading “When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.”
plural of “powder” — a solid substance in the form of tiny loose particles; a solid that has been pulverized
From this reading “She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders.”
experiencing or accompanied by sleeplessness
From this reading “When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.”
an enlarged and muscular saclike organ of the alimentary canal; the principal organ of digestion
From this reading “When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.”
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 She had had a good cry when she reached home.
Having no one else present.
From this reading Kedzie was alone.
at all times; all the time and on every occasion
From this reading When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.
that part of the central nervous system that includes all the higher nervous centers; enclosed within the skull; continuous with the spinal cord
From this reading She had pondered her little brain into a kink, trying to figure out her campaign.
a race between candidates for elective office
From this reading She had pondered her little brain into a kink, trying to figure out her campaign.
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.
utter a sudden loud cry
From this reading She had had a good cry when she reached home.
a diagram or picture illustrating textual material
From this reading She had pondered her little brain into a kink, trying to figure out her campaign.
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading She had had a good cry when she reached home.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders.
something or someone that causes anxiety; a source of unhappiness
From this reading She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading She had had a good cry when she reached home.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.
moving to the inside of something
From this reading She had pondered her little brain into a kink, trying to figure out her campaign.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Kedzie was alone.
a painful muscle spasm especially in the neck or back (“rick” and “wrick” are British)
From this reading She had pondered her little brain into a kink, trying to figure out her campaign.
a state of comatose torpor (as found in sleeping sickness)
From this reading When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading She had pondered her little brain into a kink, trying to figure out her campaign.
a female domestic
From this reading She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders.
past form of “ponder” — reflect deeply on a subject
From this reading She had pondered her little brain into a kink, trying to figure out her campaign.
a solid substance in the form of tiny loose particles; a solid that has been pulverized
From this reading When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.
plural of “powder” — a solid substance in the form of tiny loose particles; a solid that has been pulverized
From this reading She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.
past form of “reach” — reach a destination, either real or abstract
From this reading She had had a good cry when she reached home.
100 senti equal 1 kroon in Estonia
From this reading She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders.
experiencing or accompanied by sleeplessness
From this reading When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders.
an enlarged and muscular saclike organ of the alimentary canal; the principal organ of digestion
From this reading When she had a headache, or a cold, or a sleepless night, or a lethargy, she always put a powder in her stomach.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading She had sent her maid out to get some headache powders.
hard to endure
From this reading She had pondered her little brain into a kink, trying to figure out her campaign.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Kedzie was alone.
at the time that
From this reading She had had a good cry when she reached home.
Chapter 20 of We Can't Have Everything: A Novel by Rupert Hughes holds 266 sentences, grouped into 54 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 20 holds 266 sentences of We Can't Have Everything: A Novel, unabridged, divided into 54 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 20 of We Can't Have Everything: A Novel by Rupert Hughes exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 266 sentences, grouped into 54 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 54 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 54 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 20 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 We Can't Have Everything: A Novel by Rupert Hughes on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 13105 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #7077 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #7077, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2621 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through We Can't Have Everything: A Novel section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of We Can't Have Everything: A Novel 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 We Can't Have Everything: A Novel, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
