Chapter 4 of Dick and his cat is here in full — 40 sentences across 8 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of Dick and his cat is here in full — 40 sentences across 8 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat. One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her. He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home. The girl let him keep the cat, for she kept off all the rats and mice. She was a gray cat.
Chapter 4 of Dick and his cat is here in full — 40 sentences across 8 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/8 · 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 “boy” — a youthful male person
From this reading “One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.”
feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and no ability to roar: domestic cats; wildcats
From this reading “Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.”
someone who is a detective
From this reading “Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.”
a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black
From this reading “She was a gray cat.”
cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly
From this reading “One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.”
plural of “mouse” — any of numerous small rodents typically resembling diminutive rats having pointed snouts and small ears on elongated bodies with slender usually hairless tails
From this reading “The girl let him keep the cat, for she kept off all the rats and mice.”
cast, hurl, or throw repeatedly with some missile
From this reading “One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.”
plural of “rat” — any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse
From this reading “The girl let him keep the cat, for she kept off all the rats and mice.”
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 Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.
(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 The girl let him keep the cat, for she kept off all the rats and mice.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
weapons considered collectively
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.
plural of “boy” — a youthful male person
From this reading One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.
feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and no ability to roar: domestic cats; wildcats
From this reading Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.
someone who is a detective
From this reading Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading The girl let him keep the cat, for she kept off all the rats and mice.
a young female
From this reading The girl let him keep the cat, for she kept off all the rats and mice.
a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black
From this reading She was a gray cat.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., “keep clean”
From this reading The girl let him keep the cat, for she kept off all the rats and mice.
(especially of promises or contracts) not violated or disregarded
From this reading The girl let him keep the cat, for she kept off all the rats and mice.
cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly
From this reading One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.
used to make a suggestion or a command including the speaker
From this reading The girl let him keep the cat, for she kept off all the rats and mice.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
a strong positive emotion of regard and affection
From this reading Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.
plural of “mouse” — any of numerous small rodents typically resembling diminutive rats having pointed snouts and small ears on elongated bodies with slender usually hairless tails
From this reading The girl let him keep the cat, for she kept off all the rats and mice.
not any; not one
From this reading Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading The girl let him keep the cat, for she kept off all the rats and mice.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.
cast, hurl, or throw repeatedly with some missile
From this reading One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.
participate in games or sport
From this reading One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.
deserving or inciting pity
From this reading Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.
inflected form of “run” — move fast by using one's feet, with one foot off the ground at any given time
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
plural of “rat” — any of various long-tailed rodents similar to but larger than a mouse
From this reading The girl let him keep the cat, for she kept off all the rats and mice.
cut with a saw
From this reading One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The girl let him keep the cat, for she kept off all the rats and mice.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Poor Dick had now no one to love him but a cat.
inflected form of “take” — carry out
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading He did not like to have them kill the cat, so he ran to her, took her up in his arms, and took her home.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.
at the time that
From this reading One day, when he was out at play, he saw some boys pelt a cat to kill her.
Chapter 4 of Dick and his cat by Mary Ellis holds 40 sentences, grouped into 8 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 4 holds 40 sentences of Dick and his cat, unabridged, divided into 8 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of Dick and his cat by Mary Ellis exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 40 sentences, grouped into 8 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 8 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 8 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 4 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 Dick and his cat by Mary Ellis on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Dick and his cat section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of Dick and his cat 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 Dick and his cat, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
