Chapter 38 of What's Bred in the Bone is here in full — 115 sentences across 23 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXXVIII
Chapter 38 of What's Bred in the Bone is here in full — 115 sentences across 23 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
SIR GILBERT'S TEMPTATION. Cyril felt all was up. Elma glanced at him trembling. This was horrible, inconceivable, inexplicable, fatal. The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.
Chapter 38 of What's Bred in the Bone is here in full — 115 sentences across 23 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/23 · 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.
plural of “course” — education imparted in a series of lessons or meetings
From this reading “The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.”
Greek missionary; the invention of the Cyrillic alphabet is attributed to him (826-869)
From this reading “Cyril felt all was up.”
bringing death
From this reading “This was horrible, inconceivable, inexplicable, fatal.”
possessive form of “gilbert” — a unit of magnetomotive force equal to 0.7958 ampere-turns
From this reading “SIR GILBERT'S TEMPTATION.”
an informal term for a youth or man
From this reading “The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.”
totally unlikely
From this reading “This was horrible, inconceivable, inexplicable, fatal.”
incapable of being explained or accounted for
From this reading “This was horrible, inconceivable, inexplicable, fatal.”
something that seduces or has the quality to seduce
From this reading “SIR GILBERT'S TEMPTATION.”
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.
touching and pressing; in opposition to
From this reading The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.
(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 Cyril felt all was up.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Elma glanced at him trembling.
plural of “course” — education imparted in a series of lessons or meetings
From this reading The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.
Greek missionary; the invention of the Cyrillic alphabet is attributed to him (826-869)
From this reading Cyril felt all was up.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Elma glanced at him trembling.
bringing death
From this reading This was horrible, inconceivable, inexplicable, fatal.
mat together and make felt-like
From this reading Cyril felt all was up.
be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight
From this reading The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.
possessive form of “gilbert” — a unit of magnetomotive force equal to 0.7958 ampere-turns
From this reading SIR GILBERT'S TEMPTATION.
past form of “glance” — throw a glance at; take a brief look at
From this reading Elma glanced at him trembling.
an informal term for a youth or man
From this reading The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Elma glanced at him trembling.
provoking horror
From this reading This was horrible, inconceivable, inexplicable, fatal.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.
totally unlikely
From this reading This was horrible, inconceivable, inexplicable, fatal.
incapable of being explained or accounted for
From this reading This was horrible, inconceivable, inexplicable, fatal.
give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.
term of address for a man
From this reading SIR GILBERT'S TEMPTATION.
plural of “star” — (astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
From this reading The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.
something that seduces or has the quality to seduce
From this reading SIR GILBERT'S TEMPTATION.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading This was horrible, inconceivable, inexplicable, fatal.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.
a shaky motion
From this reading Elma glanced at him trembling.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading Cyril felt all was up.
precisely as stated
From this reading The very stars in their courses seem to fight against Guy.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Cyril felt all was up.
Chapter 38 of What's Bred in the Bone by Grant Allen holds 115 sentences, grouped into 23 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 38 holds 115 sentences of What's Bred in the Bone, unabridged, divided into 23 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 38 of What's Bred in the Bone by Grant Allen exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 115 sentences, grouped into 23 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 23 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 23 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 38 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's Bred in the Bone by Grant Allen on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5838 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #6010 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #6010, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 486 minutes of reading across 1168 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through What's Bred in the Bone section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of What's Bred in the Bone 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's Bred in the Bone, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
