Chapter 8 of What Answer? is here in full — 96 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of What Answer? is here in full — 96 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries. "Given?" a little thought and investigation. "Oh! Given is out on picket duty." "Whereabouts?"
Chapter 8 of What Answer? is here in full — 96 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/19 · 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.
at or near or toward the stern of a ship or tail of an airplane
From this reading “"_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.”
United States comedian and film actor (1896-1996)
From this reading “"_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.”
set up or lay the groundwork for
From this reading “"_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.”
an inquiry into unfamiliar or questionable activities
From this reading “"Given?" a little thought and investigation.”
plural of “mouse” — any of numerous small rodents typically resembling diminutive rats having pointed snouts and small ears on elongated bodies with slender usually hairless tails
From this reading “"_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.”
a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event
From this reading “Given is out on picket duty."”
plural of “scheme” — an elaborate and systematic plan of action
From this reading “"_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.”
the general location where something is
From this reading “"Whereabouts?"”
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 "Given?" a little thought and investigation.
at or near or toward the stern of a ship or tail of an airplane
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
United States comedian and film actor (1896-1996)
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
temporary living quarters specially built by the army for soldiers
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
the social force that binds you to the courses of action demanded by that force
From this reading Given is out on picket duty."
come upon, as if by accident; meet with
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
an association of criminals
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
acknowledged as a supposition
From this reading "Given?" a little thought and investigation.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
plural of “inquiry” — a search for knowledge
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
set up or lay the groundwork for
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
an inquiry into unfamiliar or questionable activities
From this reading "Given?" a little thought and investigation.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Given is out on picket duty."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading "Given?" a little thought and investigation.
the force of workers available
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
plural of “mouse” — any of numerous small rodents typically resembling diminutive rats having pointed snouts and small ears on elongated bodies with slender usually hairless tails
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
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 "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading "Oh!
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Given is out on picket duty."
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Given is out on picket duty."
a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event
From this reading Given is out on picket duty."
subject to rigid discipline, order, and systematization
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
plural of “scheme” — an elaborate and systematic plan of action
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading "Given?" a little thought and investigation.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
inflected form of “go” — change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading "_The best-laid schemes o' mice and men Gang aft agley._" BURNS They didn't find Jim in the camp of his regiment, so went up to head-quarters to institute inquiries.
the general location where something is
From this reading "Whereabouts?"
Chapter 8 of What Answer? by Anna E. (Anna Elizabeth) Dickinson holds 96 sentences, grouped into 20 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 8 holds 96 sentences of What Answer?, unabridged, divided into 20 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of What Answer? by Anna E. (Anna Elizabeth) Dickinson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 96 sentences, grouped into 20 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 20 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 20 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 8 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 What Answer? by Anna E. (Anna Elizabeth) Dickinson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2923 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #15402 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #15402, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 243 minutes of reading across 585 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through What Answer? section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 21 chapters of What Answer? 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 What Answer?, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
