Chapter 4 of Fire Island is here in full — 432 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of Fire Island is here in full — 432 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"Well, I call it a laugh, matey. Yes, they've got a nice open sort o' countenance, them crockydiles. What a time it must take'm to clean their teeth of a morning!" "Ay, and to pick 'em after dinner. Would one o' them tackle a man?"
Chapter 4 of Fire Island is here in full — 432 sentences across 87 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/86 · 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.
free from dirt or impurities; or having clean habits
From this reading “What a time it must take'm to clean their teeth of a morning!"”
the appearance conveyed by a person's face
From this reading “Yes, they've got a nice open sort o' countenance, them crockydiles.”
the sound of laughing
From this reading “"Well, I call it a laugh, matey.”
(used colloquially) having the relationship of friends or pals
From this reading “"Well, I call it a laugh, matey.”
pleasant or pleasing or agreeable in nature or appearance
From this reading “Yes, they've got a nice open sort o' countenance, them crockydiles.”
select carefully from a group
From this reading “"Ay, and to pick 'em after dinner.”
the person who plays that position on a football team
From this reading “Would one o' them tackle a man?"”
the kind and number and arrangement of teeth (collectively) in a person or animal
From this reading “What a time it must take'm to clean their teeth of a morning!"”
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 "Well, I call it a laugh, matey.
later than; following
From this reading "Ay, and to pick 'em after dinner.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading "Ay, and to pick 'em after dinner.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Ay, and to pick 'em after dinner.
assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading "Well, I call it a laugh, matey.
free from dirt or impurities; or having clean habits
From this reading What a time it must take'm to clean their teeth of a morning!"
the appearance conveyed by a person's face
From this reading Yes, they've got a nice open sort o' countenance, them crockydiles.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Yes, they've got a nice open sort o' countenance, them crockydiles.
the main meal of the day served in the evening or at midday
From this reading "Ay, and to pick 'em after dinner.
a quad with a square body
From this reading "Ay, and to pick 'em after dinner.
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading Yes, they've got a nice open sort o' countenance, them crockydiles.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading "Well, I call it a laugh, matey.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading "Well, I call it a laugh, matey.
the sound of laughing
From this reading "Well, I call it a laugh, matey.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading Would one o' them tackle a man?"
(used colloquially) having the relationship of friends or pals
From this reading "Well, I call it a laugh, matey.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading What a time it must take'm to clean their teeth of a morning!"
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading What a time it must take'm to clean their teeth of a morning!"
pleasant or pleasing or agreeable in nature or appearance
From this reading Yes, they've got a nice open sort o' countenance, them crockydiles.
a nonmetallic bivalent element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless nonflammable diatomic gas; constitutes 21 percent of the atmosphere by volume; the most abundant element in the earth's crust
From this reading Yes, they've got a nice open sort o' countenance, them crockydiles.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading What a time it must take'm to clean their teeth of a morning!"
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Would one o' them tackle a man?"
To move from a closed position.
From this reading Yes, they've got a nice open sort o' countenance, them crockydiles.
select carefully from a group
From this reading "Ay, and to pick 'em after dinner.
a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality
From this reading Yes, they've got a nice open sort o' countenance, them crockydiles.
the person who plays that position on a football team
From this reading Would one o' them tackle a man?"
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading What a time it must take'm to clean their teeth of a morning!"
the kind and number and arrangement of teeth (collectively) in a person or animal
From this reading What a time it must take'm to clean their teeth of a morning!"
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading What a time it must take'm to clean their teeth of a morning!"
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading Yes, they've got a nice open sort o' countenance, them crockydiles.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Yes, they've got a nice open sort o' countenance, them crockydiles.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading What a time it must take'm to clean their teeth of a morning!"
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading What a time it must take'm to clean their teeth of a morning!"
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading "Well, I call it a laugh, matey.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading What a time it must take'm to clean their teeth of a morning!"
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading Would one o' them tackle a man?"
an affirmative
From this reading Yes, they've got a nice open sort o' countenance, them crockydiles.
Chapter 4 of Fire Island by George Manville Fenn holds 432 sentences, grouped into 87 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 432 sentences of Fire Island, unabridged, divided into 87 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of Fire Island by George Manville Fenn exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 432 sentences, grouped into 87 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 87 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 87 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 Fire Island by George Manville Fenn on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6733 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #21307 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #21307, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 561 minutes of reading across 1347 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Fire Island section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 16 chapters of Fire Island 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 Fire Island, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
