Chapter 10 of What Is Man? and Other Essays is here in full — 133 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter X
Chapter 10 of What Is Man? and Other Essays is here in full — 133 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
O.M. Did it obey? Y.M. Well, no, it didn’t. It busied itself with the other one. O.M. Did you try hard to make it obey? Y.M. Yes, I did my honest best.
Chapter 10 of What Is Man? and Other Essays is here in full — 133 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.
the supreme effort one can make
From this reading “Y.M. Yes, I did my honest best.”
inflected form of “busy” — keep busy with
From this reading “It busied itself with the other one.”
not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
From this reading “O.M. Did you try hard to make it obey?”
not disposed to cheat or defraud; not deceptive or fraudulent
From this reading “Y.M. Yes, I did my honest best.”
used when the thing doing the action is also its object
From this reading “It busied itself with the other one.”
be obedient to
From this reading “O.M. Did it obey?”
make an effort or attempt
From this reading “O.M. Did you try hard to make it obey?”
an affirmative
From this reading “Y.M. Yes, I did my honest best.”
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.
the supreme effort one can make
From this reading Y.M. Yes, I did my honest best.
inflected form of “busy” — keep busy with
From this reading It busied itself with the other one.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading O.M. Did it obey?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Y.M. Well, no, it didn’t.
not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure
From this reading O.M. Did you try hard to make it obey?
not disposed to cheat or defraud; not deceptive or fraudulent
From this reading Y.M. Yes, I did my honest best.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Y.M. Yes, I did my honest best.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading O.M. Did it obey?
used when the thing doing the action is also its object
From this reading It busied itself with the other one.
the basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites (approximately 1.094 yards)
From this reading O.M. Did it obey?
engage in
From this reading O.M. Did you try hard to make it obey?
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading Y.M. Yes, I did my honest best.
not any; not one
From this reading Y.M. Well, no, it didn’t.
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. Did it obey?
be obedient to
From this reading O.M. Did it obey?
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading It busied itself with the other one.
not the same one or ones already mentioned or implied
From this reading It busied itself with the other one.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading It busied itself with the other one.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading O.M. Did you try hard to make it obey?
make an effort or attempt
From this reading O.M. Did you try hard to make it obey?
(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 Y.M. Well, no, it didn’t.
in the company of; together with
From this reading It busied itself with the other one.
a silvery metallic element that is common in rare-earth minerals; used in magnesium and aluminum alloys
From this reading Y.M. Well, no, it didn’t.
an affirmative
From this reading Y.M. Yes, I did my honest best.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading O.M. Did you try hard to make it obey?
Chapter 10 of What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain holds 133 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 10 holds 133 sentences of What Is Man? and Other Essays, unabridged, divided into 27 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 10 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 133 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 10 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 Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5187 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #70 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
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.
How to work through What Is Man? and Other Essays section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 32 chapters of What Is Man? and Other Essays 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 Is Man? and Other Essays, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
