Chapter 24 of Looking Forward is here in full — 123 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXIV
Chapter 24 of Looking Forward is here in full — 123 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Improvements of The Age. The advantages of Electrical conveyances. No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip. Tobacco chewing and spitting prohibited in public places. Cigarettes are condemned by law.
Chapter 24 of Looking Forward is here in full — 123 sentences across 25 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/24 · 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.
biting and grinding food in your mouth so it becomes soft enough to swallow
From this reading “Tobacco chewing and spitting prohibited in public places.”
plural of “cigarette” — finely ground tobacco wrapped in paper; for smoking
From this reading “Cigarettes are condemned by law.”
plural of “department” — a specialized division of a large organization
From this reading “No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.”
relating to or concerned with electricity
From this reading “The advantages of Electrical conveyances.”
plural of “improvement” — a change for the better; progress in development
From this reading “Improvements of The Age.”
promise of reimbursement in the case of loss; paid to people or companies so concerned about hazards that they have made prepayments to an insurance company
From this reading “No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.”
excluded from use or mention
From this reading “Tobacco chewing and spitting prohibited in public places.”
the act of spitting (forcefully expelling saliva)
From this reading “Tobacco chewing and spitting prohibited in public places.”
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.
a financial institution that sells insurance
In this reading “No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.”
the department of local government responsible for preventing and extinguishing fires
In this reading “No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.”
In this reading “Tobacco chewing and spitting prohibited in public places.”
In this reading “Cigarettes are condemned by law.”
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.
plural of “advantage” — the quality of having a superior or more favorable position
From this reading The advantages of Electrical conveyances.
how long something has existed
From this reading Improvements of The Age.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading Cigarettes are condemned by law.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading Cigarettes are condemned by law.
biting and grinding food in your mouth so it becomes soft enough to swallow
From this reading Tobacco chewing and spitting prohibited in public places.
plural of “cigarette” — finely ground tobacco wrapped in paper; for smoking
From this reading Cigarettes are condemned by law.
plural of “company” — an institution created to conduct business
From this reading No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.
past form of “condemn” — express strong disapproval of
From this reading Cigarettes are condemned by law.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The advantages of Electrical conveyances.
plural of “department” — a specialized division of a large organization
From this reading No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.
relating to or concerned with electricity
From this reading The advantages of Electrical conveyances.
start firing a weapon
From this reading No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.
the act of grasping
From this reading No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.
plural of “improvement” — a change for the better; progress in development
From this reading Improvements of The Age.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Tobacco chewing and spitting prohibited in public places.
promise of reimbursement in the case of loss; paid to people or companies so concerned about hazards that they have made prepayments to an insurance company
From this reading No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.
the collection of rules imposed by authority
From this reading Cigarettes are condemned by law.
fail to keep or to maintain; cease to have, either physically or in an abstract sense
From this reading No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.
not any; not one
From this reading No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Improvements of The Age.
plural of “place” — a point located with respect to surface features of some region
From this reading Tobacco chewing and spitting prohibited in public places.
excluded from use or mention
From this reading Tobacco chewing and spitting prohibited in public places.
people in general considered as a whole
From this reading Tobacco chewing and spitting prohibited in public places.
necessary for relief or supply
From this reading No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.
the act of spitting (forcefully expelling saliva)
From this reading Tobacco chewing and spitting prohibited in public places.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Improvements of The Age.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading No fire departments required and Insurance companies lose their grip.
leaves of the tobacco plant dried and prepared for smoking or ingestion
From this reading Tobacco chewing and spitting prohibited in public places.
Chapter 24 of Looking Forward by Arthur Bird holds 123 sentences, grouped into 25 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 24 holds 123 sentences of Looking Forward, unabridged, divided into 25 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 24 of Looking Forward by Arthur Bird exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 123 sentences, grouped into 25 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 25 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 25 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 24 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 Looking Forward by Arthur Bird on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2288 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #50148 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #50148, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 190 minutes of reading across 458 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Looking Forward section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 28 chapters of Looking Forward 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 Looking Forward, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
