Chapter 12 of Ben o' Bill's, the Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale is here in full — 388 sentences across 78 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter XII
Chapter 12 of Ben o' Bill's, the Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale is here in full — 388 sentences across 78 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
MAY came, sweet, fair and smiling. The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest. Everything was quiet as quiet could be. Of George I saw nothing at all. True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.
Chapter 12 of Ben o' Bill's, the Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale is here in full — 388 sentences across 78 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/77 · 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.
freedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your abilities
From this reading “The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.”
a Chadic language spoken in northern Nigeria
From this reading “The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.”
plural of “crop” — the yield from plants in a single growing season
From this reading “The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.”
the yield from plants in a single growing season
From this reading “The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.”
a formally arranged gathering
From this reading “True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.”
try to get or reach
From this reading “True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.”
inflected form of “shrink” — wither, as with a loss of moisture
From this reading “True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.”
a facial expression characterized by turning up the corners of the mouth; usually shows pleasure or amusement
From this reading “MAY came, sweet, fair and smiling.”
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 crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.”
avoid (one's assigned duties)
In this reading “True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.”
expect or hope for
In this reading “The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.”
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 crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
(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 Of George I saw nothing at all.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading MAY came, sweet, fair and smiling.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading Everything was quiet as quiet could be.
freedom from doubt; belief in yourself and your abilities
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Of George I saw nothing at all.
a Chadic language spoken in northern Nigeria
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
inflected form of “come” — move toward, travel toward something or somebody or approach something or somebody
From this reading MAY came, sweet, fair and smiling.
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading Everything was quiet as quiet could be.
plural of “crop” — the yield from plants in a single growing season
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.
all the members of a group, with none left out
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
all things; all of a situation
From this reading Everything was quiet as quiet could be.
free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules
From this reading MAY came, sweet, fair and smiling.
at or to or toward the front
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.
Christian martyr; patron saint of England; hero of the legend of Saint George and the Dragon in which he slew a dragon and saved a princess (?-303)
From this reading Of George I saw nothing at all.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
the yield from plants in a single growing season
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Of George I saw nothing at all.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
used to say something is possible, or to give permission
From this reading MAY came, sweet, fair and smiling.
a formally arranged gathering
From this reading True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading Of George I saw nothing at all.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
characterized by an absence or near absence of agitation or activity
From this reading Everything was quiet as quiet could be.
on the contrary
From this reading True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.
possessing material wealth
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
cut with a saw
From this reading Of George I saw nothing at all.
try to get or reach
From this reading True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.
inflected form of “shrink” — wither, as with a loss of moisture
From this reading True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.
a facial expression characterized by turning up the corners of the mouth; usually shows pleasure or amusement
From this reading MAY came, sweet, fair and smiling.
having or denoting the characteristic taste of sugar
From this reading MAY came, sweet, fair and smiling.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
consistent with fact or reality; not false
From this reading True I did not seek him, rather I shrank from meeting him.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Everything was quiet as quiet could be.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
in the company of; together with
From this reading The crops bade fair to be good, and we looked forward to hay-making time with every assurance of a rich harvest.
Chapter 12 of Ben o' Bill's, the Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale by D. F. E. Sykes holds 388 sentences, grouped into 78 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 12 holds 388 sentences of Ben o' Bill's, the Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale, unabridged, divided into 78 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 12 of Ben o' Bill's, the Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale by D. F. E. Sykes exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 388 sentences, grouped into 78 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 78 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 78 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.
Common questions about reading Ben o' Bill's, the Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale by D. F. E. Sykes on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4565 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #54030 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #54030, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 380 minutes of reading across 913 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Ben o' Bill's, the Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 15 chapters of Ben o' Bill's, the Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale 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 Ben o' Bill's, the Luddite: A Yorkshire Tale, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
