Chapter 4 of First the Blade: A Comedy of Growth is here in full — 90 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of First the Blade: A Comedy of Growth is here in full — 90 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
If they had only told her that her mother was dead! Death, Laura understood. There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten. Her mother had explained it all to her at the time. Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.
Chapter 4 of First the Blade: A Comedy of Growth is here in full — 90 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/18 · 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.
dearly loved
From this reading “There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.”
a mountain or tall hill
From this reading “There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.”
plural of “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading “There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.”
young domestic cat
From this reading “There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.”
to incline or bend from a vertical position
From this reading “Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.”
past form of “poison” — spoil as if by poison
From this reading “There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.”
the cognitive processes whereby past experience is remembered
From this reading “Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.”
the feeling of distress and disbelief that you have when something bad happens accidentally
From this reading “Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.”
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 “Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.”
simultaneously
In this reading “Her mother had explained it all to her at the time.”
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 There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
(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 Her mother had explained it all to her at the time.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Her mother had explained it all to her at the time.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
dearly loved
From this reading There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
a mountain or tall hill
From this reading There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
plural of “bird” — warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
no longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life
From this reading If they had only told her that her mother was dead!
the event of dying or departure from life
From this reading Death, Laura understood.
past form of “explain” — make plain and comprehensible
From this reading Her mother had explained it all to her at the time.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading If they had only told her that her mother was dead!
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading If they had only told her that her mother was dead!
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading If they had only told her that her mother was dead!
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Her mother had explained it all to her at the time.
young domestic cat
From this reading There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Death, Laura understood.
to incline or bend from a vertical position
From this reading Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.
derogatory term for a variation that is not genuine; something irregular or inferior or of dubious origin
From this reading There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
From this reading If they had only told her that her mother was dead!
on one occasion
From this reading There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
and nothing more
From this reading If they had only told her that her mother was dead!
past form of “poison” — spoil as if by poison
From this reading There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
the cognitive processes whereby past experience is remembered
From this reading Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.
the feeling of distress and disbelief that you have when something bad happens accidentally
From this reading Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.
not in physical motion
From this reading Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading If they had only told her that her mother was dead!
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading If they had only told her that her mother was dead!
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading Her mother had explained it all to her at the time.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Her mother had explained it all to her at the time.
inflected form of “tell” — express in words
From this reading If they had only told her that her mother was dead!
fully apprehended as to purport or meaning or explanation
From this reading Death, Laura understood.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading If they had only told her that her mother was dead!
which person or people
From this reading There had been Ben, the beloved mongrel who was poisoned, and Grandmamma, and birds, and once a kitten.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading Remembering, she would still have had, in the shock, her mother to lean upon.
Chapter 4 of First the Blade: A Comedy of Growth by Clemence Dane holds 90 sentences, grouped into 18 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 90 sentences of First the Blade: A Comedy of Growth, unabridged, divided into 18 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of First the Blade: A Comedy of Growth by Clemence Dane exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 90 sentences, grouped into 18 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 18 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 18 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 First the Blade: A Comedy of Growth by Clemence Dane on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 7010 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #63501 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #63501, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 584 minutes of reading across 1402 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through First the Blade: A Comedy of Growth section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 37 chapters of First the Blade: A Comedy of Growth 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 First the Blade: A Comedy of Growth, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
