Chapter 3 of What Is Man? and Other Essays is here in full — 134 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter III
Chapter 3 of What Is Man? and Other Essays is here in full — 134 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
O.M. Very well. Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents. Let us try to find out the _real_ why of his making the investment. In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him. So he was thinking of _his_ pain—this good man.
Chapter 3 of What Is Man? and Other Essays is here in full — 134 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/26 · 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.
make an addition (to); join or combine or unite with others; increase the quality, quantity, size or scope of
From this reading “Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.”
have
From this reading “In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.”
plural of “cent” — a fractional monetary unit of several countries
From this reading “Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.”
true confidential information
From this reading “Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.”
the act of investing; laying out money or capital in an enterprise with the expectation of profit
From this reading “Let us try to find out the _real_ why of his making the investment.”
a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder
From this reading “In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.”
a state of acute pain
From this reading “In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.”
being five more than twenty
From this reading “Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.”
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.
make an addition (to); join or combine or unite with others; increase the quality, quantity, size or scope of
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
have
From this reading In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.
plural of “cent” — a fractional monetary unit of several countries
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.
true confidential information
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.
come upon, as if by accident; meet with
From this reading Let us try to find out the _real_ why of his making the investment.
preceding all others in time or space or degree
From this reading In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
inflected form of “give” — cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading So he was thinking of _his_ pain—this good man.
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.
the act of investing; laying out money or capital in an enterprise with the expectation of profit
From this reading Let us try to find out the _real_ why of his making the investment.
used to make a suggestion or a command including the speaker
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
the basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites (approximately 1.094 yards)
From this reading O.M. Very well.
the act that results in something coming to be
From this reading Let us try to find out the _real_ why of his making the investment.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading So he was thinking of _his_ pain—this good man.
to a great degree or extent
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
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.M. Very well.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Let us try to find out the _real_ why of his making the investment.
(used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
From this reading In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Let us try to find out the _real_ why of his making the investment.
a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder
From this reading In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.
a point located with respect to surface features of some region
From this reading In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.
being or occurring in fact or actuality; having verified existence; not illusory
From this reading Let us try to find out the _real_ why of his making the investment.
perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading So he was thinking of _his_ pain—this good man.
a state of acute pain
From this reading In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
the process of using your mind to consider something carefully
From this reading So he was thinking of _his_ pain—this good man.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading So he was thinking of _his_ pain—this good man.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Let us try to find out the _real_ why of his making the investment.
make an effort or attempt
From this reading Let us try to find out the _real_ why of his making the investment.
being five more than twenty
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Now let us add up the details and see how much he got for his twenty-five cents.
precisely as stated
From this reading O.M. Very well.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading So he was thinking of _his_ pain—this good man.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading O.M. Very well.
used to introduce a clause giving more about a thing just mentioned
From this reading In the first place _he_ couldn’t bear the pain which the old suffering face gave him.
the cause or intention underlying an action or situation, especially in the phrase “the whys and wherefores”
From this reading Let us try to find out the _real_ why of his making the investment.
Chapter 3 of What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain holds 134 sentences, grouped into 27 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 3 holds 134 sentences of What Is Man? and Other Essays, unabridged, divided into 27 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 3 of What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 134 sentences, grouped into 27 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 27 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 27 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 3 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.
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Project Gutenberg eBook #70, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 432 minutes of reading across 1038 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
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Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in What Is Man? and Other Essays, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
