Chapter 12 of What Is Man? and Other Essays is here in full — 129 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XII
Chapter 12 of What Is Man? and Other Essays is here in full — 129 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Y.M. I have to concede it. It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it. I believe it was thought. O.M. I will give you another instance of thought. Franklin had a cup of sugar on a table in his room.
Chapter 12 of What Is Man? and Other Essays is here in full — 129 sentences across 26 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/25 · 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.
admit (to a wrongdoing)
From this reading “Y.M. I have to concede it.”
a small open container usually used for drinking; usually has a handle
From this reading “Franklin had a cup of sugar on a table in his room.”
United States historian noted for studies of Black American history (born in 1915)
From this reading “Franklin had a cup of sugar on a table in his room.”
an established custom
From this reading “It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.”
an occurrence of something
From this reading “O.M. I will give you another instance of thought.”
an expression consisting of one or more words forming a grammatical constituent of a sentence
From this reading “It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.”
a calm, lengthy, intent consideration
From this reading “It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.”
a white crystalline carbohydrate used as a sweetener and preservative
From this reading “Franklin had a cup of sugar on a table in his room.”
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 It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
one more of the same kind, or a different one
From this reading O.M. I will give you another instance of thought.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
accept as true; take to be true
From this reading I believe it was thought.
admit (to a wrongdoing)
From this reading Y.M. I have to concede it.
a small open container usually used for drinking; usually has a handle
From this reading Franklin had a cup of sugar on a table in his room.
United States historian noted for studies of Black American history (born in 1915)
From this reading Franklin had a cup of sugar on a table in his room.
cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading O.M. I will give you another instance of thought.
an established custom
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Franklin had a cup of sugar on a table in his room.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Y.M. I have to concede it.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Franklin had a cup of sugar on a table in his room.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Y.M. I have to concede it.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Franklin had a cup of sugar on a table in his room.
an occurrence of something
From this reading O.M. I will give you another instance of thought.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Y.M. I have to concede it.
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
the basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites (approximately 1.094 yards)
From this reading Y.M. I have to concede it.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
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. I will give you another instance of thought.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Franklin had a cup of sugar on a table in his room.
an expression consisting of one or more words forming a grammatical constituent of a sentence
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
hitting a golf ball that is on the green using a putter
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
a calm, lengthy, intent consideration
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
a phenomenon that follows and is caused by some previous phenomenon
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling
From this reading Franklin had a cup of sugar on a table in his room.
a white crystalline carbohydrate used as a sweetener and preservative
From this reading Franklin had a cup of sugar on a table in his room.
a set of data arranged in rows and columns
From this reading Franklin had a cup of sugar on a table in his room.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Y.M. I have to concede it.
in contact with each other or in proximity
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading O.M. I will give you another instance of thought.
a silvery metallic element that is common in rare-earth minerals; used in magnesium and aluminum alloys
From this reading Y.M. I have to concede it.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading It was not a result of habit; it has all the look of reflection, thought, putting this and that together, as you phrase it.
Chapter 12 of What Is Man? and Other Essays by Mark Twain holds 129 sentences, grouped into 26 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 12 holds 129 sentences of What Is Man? and Other Essays, unabridged, divided into 26 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 12 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 129 sentences, grouped into 26 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 26 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 26 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 12 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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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.
