Chapter 5 of A Reaping is here in full — 444 sentences across 89 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of A Reaping is here in full — 444 sentences across 89 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone. ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room. ‘She was bursting with pride at having cooked this. But if I eat it I shall be sick. What are we to do?’
Chapter 5 of A Reaping is here in full — 444 sentences across 89 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/88 · 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.
exceptionally bad or displeasing
From this reading “The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.”
-ing form of “burst” — come open suddenly and violently, as if from internal pressure
From this reading “‘She was bursting with pride at having cooked this.”
prepare a hot meal
From this reading “‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.”
having been prepared for eating by the application of heat
From this reading “‘She was bursting with pride at having cooked this.”
(Greek mythology) the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda who was abducted by Paris; the Greek army sailed to Troy to get her back which resulted in the Trojan War
From this reading “‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.”
afflicted with or characteristic of mental derangement
From this reading “The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.”
the sound of a bell ringing
From this reading “The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.”
electronic equipment that converts sound into electrical signals that can be transmitted over distances and then converts received signals back into sounds
From this reading “The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.”
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 “The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.”
order, request, or command to come
In this reading “‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.”
In this reading “‘She was bursting with pride at having cooked this.”
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 The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
happening at a time subsequent to a reference time
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading What are we to do?’
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading ‘She was bursting with pride at having cooked this.
exceptionally bad or displeasing
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading But if I eat it I shall be sick.
-ing form of “burst” — come open suddenly and violently, as if from internal pressure
From this reading ‘She was bursting with pride at having cooked this.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But if I eat it I shall be sick.
prepare a hot meal
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
having been prepared for eating by the application of heat
From this reading ‘She was bursting with pride at having cooked this.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading What are we to do?’
the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
take in solid food
From this reading But if I eat it I shall be sick.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
a young female
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
the -ing form of “have”
From this reading ‘She was bursting with pride at having cooked this.
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
(Greek mythology) the beautiful daughter of Zeus and Leda who was abducted by Paris; the Greek army sailed to Troy to get her back which resulted in the Trojan War
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading But if I eat it I shall be sick.
afflicted with or characteristic of mental derangement
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading But if I eat it I shall be sick.
and nothing more
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
location near or direction toward the left side; i.e. the side to the north when a person or object faces east
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
a particular point in time
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
a feeling of self-respect and personal worth
From this reading ‘She was bursting with pride at having cooked this.
the sound of a bell ringing
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
cause to go somewhere
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
used with I and we for the future, or to offer and suggest
From this reading But if I eat it I shall be sick.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading ‘She was bursting with pride at having cooked this.
affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function
From this reading But if I eat it I shall be sick.
past form of “smile” — change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
electronic equipment that converts sound into electrical signals that can be transmitted over distances and then converts received signals back into sounds
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
a special situation
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading ‘She was bursting with pride at having cooked this.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading The Awful Thing smiled from ear to ear, and a moment afterwards we heard the insane ringing of the telephone.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading What are we to do?’
at the time that
From this reading ‘Oh, I _couldn’t_ send for a cook just this moment,’ said Helen, when the girl had left the room.
in the company of; together with
From this reading ‘She was bursting with pride at having cooked this.
Chapter 5 of A Reaping by E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson holds 444 sentences, grouped into 89 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 5 holds 444 sentences of A Reaping, unabridged, divided into 89 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of A Reaping by E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 444 sentences, grouped into 89 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 89 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 89 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 5 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 A Reaping by E. F. (Edward Frederic) Benson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3452 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #58202 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #58202, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 287 minutes of reading across 691 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Reaping section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 8 chapters of A Reaping 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 A Reaping, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
