Chapter 2 of Witty Pieces by Witty People is here in full — 402 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter II
Chapter 2 of Witty Pieces by Witty People is here in full — 402 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
--_Harper's Weekly._ The Latest Style. Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight! Did you use all the goods? Modiste--Great Heavens! Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?
Chapter 2 of Witty Pieces by Witty People is here in full — 402 sentences across 81 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/80 · 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.
a hat tied under the chin
From this reading “Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!”
someone who pays for goods or services
From this reading “Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!”
possessive form of “harper” — someone who plays the harp
up to the immediate present; most recent or most up-to-date
From this reading “--_Harper's Weekly._ The Latest Style.”
a perceptual structure
From this reading “Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?”
made neat and tidy by trimming
From this reading “Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?”
the act of adding decoration
From this reading “Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!”
a periodical that is published every week (or 52 issues per year)
From this reading “--_Harper's Weekly._ The Latest Style.”
English keeps certain words together, and knowing the pair is worth more than knowing each word alone. Every partnership below was counted across our whole published library, and earns its place by appearing far more often than two unrelated words of the same frequency would.
Shown as this reading writes them, with the form the library counts, what kind of pairing it is, and how often it occurs.
In this reading “--_Harper's Weekly._ The Latest Style.”
In this reading “Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!”
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 Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
(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 Did you use all the goods?
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
third-person singular of “appear” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
earlier than; in front of
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
a hat tied under the chin
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
inflected form of “bring” — take something or somebody with oneself somewhere
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
to be able to, or to be allowed to
From this reading Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?
the attire worn in a play or at a fancy dress ball
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
someone who pays for goods or services
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
the time during which someone's life continues
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading Did you use all the goods?
put on clothes
From this reading Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?
being one more than seven
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
plural of “good” — benefit
From this reading Did you use all the goods?
a woman's dress, usually with a close-fitting bodice and a long flared skirt, often worn on formal occasions
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading Modiste--Great Heavens!
possessive form of “harper” — someone who plays the harp
From this reading --_Harper's Weekly._ The Latest Style.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
the apparent surface of the imaginary sphere on which celestial bodies appear to be projected
From this reading Modiste--Great Heavens!
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?
up to the immediate present; most recent or most up-to-date
From this reading --_Harper's Weekly._ The Latest Style.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?
concerned with worldly rather than spiritual interests
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
someone who makes and sells hats
From this reading Modiste--Great Heavens!
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?
a perceptual structure
From this reading Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?
primarily temporal sense; indicating or being or seeming to be limited in duration
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading --_Harper's Weekly._ The Latest Style.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading --_Harper's Weekly._ The Latest Style.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
closely constrained or constricted or constricting
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
made neat and tidy by trimming
From this reading Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?
the act of adding decoration
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
the act of using
From this reading Did you use all the goods?
precisely as stated
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
a periodical that is published every week (or 52 issues per year)
From this reading --_Harper's Weekly._ The Latest Style.
which person or people
From this reading Customer (who has brought material for a gown and trimming for a bonnet eight days before)--This costume appears to be very short and tight!
in the company of; together with
From this reading Can it be that I made the gown out of the bonnet trimming and trimmed the bonnet with the dress pattern?
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Did you use all the goods?
Chapter 2 of Witty Pieces by Witty People by Various holds 402 sentences, grouped into 81 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 2 holds 402 sentences of Witty Pieces by Witty People, unabridged, divided into 81 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 2 of Witty Pieces by Witty People by Various exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 402 sentences, grouped into 81 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 81 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 81 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 2 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 Witty Pieces by Witty People by Various on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2504 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #43101 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #43101, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 208 minutes of reading across 501 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Witty Pieces by Witty People section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 6 chapters of Witty Pieces by Witty People 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 Witty Pieces by Witty People, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
