Chapter 4 of Hoofbeats on the Turnpike is here in full — 414 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of Hoofbeats on the Turnpike is here in full — 414 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"A riding horse too," Penny remarked. "Wonder how she can afford to keep it?" Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay. "Now to feed ourselves," Penny sighed as they left the barn. "My stomach feels as empty as the Grand Canyon!"
Chapter 4 of Hoofbeats on the Turnpike is here in full — 414 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/82 · 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.
more than enough in size or scope or capacity
From this reading “Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.”
an outlying farm building for storing grain or animal feed and housing farm animals
From this reading “"Now to feed ourselves," Penny sighed as they left the barn.”
a container; usually has a lid
From this reading “Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.”
a ravine formed by a river in an area with little rainfall
From this reading “"My stomach feels as empty as the Grand Canyon!"”
any federal law-enforcement officer
From this reading “Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.”
resembling a fork; divided or separated into two branches
From this reading “Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.”
grass mowed and cured for use as fodder
From this reading “Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.”
an enlarged and muscular saclike organ of the alimentary canal; the principal organ of digestion
From this reading “"My stomach feels as empty as the Grand Canyon!"”
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 “Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.”
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 "A riding horse too," Penny remarked.
be able to spare or give up
From this reading "Wonder how she can afford to keep it?"
more than enough in size or scope or capacity
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading "Now to feed ourselves," Penny sighed as they left the barn.
an outlying farm building for storing grain or animal feed and housing farm animals
From this reading "Now to feed ourselves," Penny sighed as they left the barn.
a container; usually has a lid
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
(used in the plural) a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of hollow pieces of wood or bone (usually held between the thumb and fingers) that are made to click together (as by Spanish dancers) in rhythm with the dance
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
to be able to, or to be allowed to
From this reading "Wonder how she can afford to keep it?"
a ravine formed by a river in an area with little rainfall
From this reading "My stomach feels as empty as the Grand Canyon!"
tall annual cereal grass bearing kernels on large ears: widely cultivated in America in many varieties; the principal cereal in Mexico and Central and South America since pre-Columbian times
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
make void or empty of contents
From this reading "My stomach feels as empty as the Grand Canyon!"
any federal law-enforcement officer
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
provide as food
From this reading "Now to feed ourselves," Penny sighed as they left the barn.
plural of “feel” — an intuitive awareness
From this reading "My stomach feels as empty as the Grand Canyon!"
the act of determining the properties of something, usually by research or calculation
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
resembling a fork; divided or separated into two branches
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
plural of “girl” — a young female
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
of behavior that is impressive and ambitious in scale or scope
From this reading "My stomach feels as empty as the Grand Canyon!"
grass mowed and cured for use as fodder
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times
From this reading "A riding horse too," Penny remarked.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Wonder how she can afford to keep it?"
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading "Wonder how she can afford to keep it?"
cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., “keep clean”
From this reading "Wonder how she can afford to keep it?"
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 "Now to feed ourselves," Penny sighed as they left the barn.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading "My stomach feels as empty as the Grand Canyon!"
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading "Now to feed ourselves," Penny sighed as they left the barn.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
used when we are both doing the action and receiving it
From this reading "Now to feed ourselves," Penny sighed as they left the barn.
a fractional monetary unit of Ireland and the United Kingdom; equal to one hundredth of a pound
From this reading "A riding horse too," Penny remarked.
past form of “remark” — make mention of
From this reading "A riding horse too," Penny remarked.
the sport of sitting on the back of a horse while controlling its movements
From this reading "A riding horse too," Penny remarked.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "Wonder how she can afford to keep it?"
past form of “sigh” — heave or utter a sigh; breathe deeply and heavily
From this reading "Now to feed ourselves," Penny sighed as they left the barn.
an enlarged and muscular saclike organ of the alimentary canal; the principal organ of digestion
From this reading "My stomach feels as empty as the Grand Canyon!"
give something useful or necessary to
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "Now to feed ourselves," Penny sighed as they left the barn.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading "Wonder how she can afford to keep it?"
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
From this reading "A riding horse too," Penny remarked.
a Caucasian
From this reading Finding corn in the bin, the girls fed Bones and White Foot, and forked them an ample supply of hay.
the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising
From this reading "Wonder how she can afford to keep it?"
Chapter 4 of Hoofbeats on the Turnpike by Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine) Wirt holds 414 sentences, grouped into 83 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 414 sentences of Hoofbeats on the Turnpike, unabridged, divided into 83 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of Hoofbeats on the Turnpike by Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine) Wirt exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 414 sentences, grouped into 83 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 83 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 83 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 Hoofbeats on the Turnpike by Mildred A. (Mildred Augustine) Wirt on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4142 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #34691 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #34691, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 345 minutes of reading across 829 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Hoofbeats on the Turnpike section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 10 chapters of Hoofbeats on the Turnpike 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 Hoofbeats on the Turnpike, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
