Chapter 7 of Marching Men is here in full — 85 sentences across 17 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of Marching Men is here in full — 85 sentences across 17 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along. It is a startling thing to look closely at them. The people have bad mouths. Their mouths are slack and the jaws do not hang right. The mouths are like the shoes they wear.
Chapter 7 of Marching Men is here in full — 85 sentences across 17 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/17 · 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.
largest city in Illinois; a bustling Great Lakes port that extends 26 miles along the southwestern shoreline of Lake Michigan
From this reading “The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.”
aimless wandering from place to place
From this reading “The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.”
plural of “drove” — a group of animals (a herd or flock) moving together
From this reading “The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.”
moving with great haste
From this reading “The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.”
plural of “jaw” — the part of the skull of a vertebrate that frames the mouth and holds the teeth
From this reading “Their mouths are slack and the jaws do not hang right.”
plural of “mouth” — the opening through which food is taken in and vocalizations emerge
From this reading “The people have bad mouths.”
not tense or taut
From this reading “Their mouths are slack and the jaws do not hang right.”
so remarkably different or sudden as to cause momentary shock or alarm
From this reading “It is a startling thing to look closely at them.”
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 It is a startling thing to look closely at them.
following the length of something from one end toward the other
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Their mouths are slack and the jaws do not hang right.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading Their mouths are slack and the jaws do not hang right.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
having undesirable or negative qualities
From this reading The people have bad mouths.
largest city in Illinois; a bustling Great Lakes port that extends 26 miles along the southwestern shoreline of Lake Michigan
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
in a close relation or position in time or space
From this reading It is a startling thing to look closely at them.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading Their mouths are slack and the jaws do not hang right.
aimless wandering from place to place
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
plural of “drove” — a group of animals (a herd or flock) moving together
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
the latter part of the day (the period of decreasing daylight from late afternoon until nightfall)
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
be suspended or hanging
From this reading Their mouths are slack and the jaws do not hang right.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading The people have bad mouths.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
moving with great haste
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It is a startling thing to look closely at them.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It is a startling thing to look closely at them.
plural of “jaw” — the part of the skull of a vertebrate that frames the mouth and holds the teeth
From this reading Their mouths are slack and the jaws do not hang right.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading The mouths are like the shoes they wear.
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading It is a startling thing to look closely at them.
plural of “mouth” — the opening through which food is taken in and vocalizations emerge
From this reading The people have bad mouths.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading Their mouths are slack and the jaws do not hang right.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
(plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
precisely, exactly
From this reading Their mouths are slack and the jaws do not hang right.
a particular situation
From this reading The mouths are like the shoes they wear.
not tense or taut
From this reading Their mouths are slack and the jaws do not hang right.
so remarkably different or sudden as to cause momentary shock or alarm
From this reading It is a startling thing to look closely at them.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading It is a startling thing to look closely at them.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
a special situation
From this reading It is a startling thing to look closely at them.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading It is a startling thing to look closely at them.
be dressed in
From this reading The mouths are like the shoes they wear.
exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
From this reading The people of Chicago go home from their work at evening--drifting they go in droves, hurrying along.
Chapter 7 of Marching Men by Sherwood Anderson holds 85 sentences, grouped into 17 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 7 holds 85 sentences of Marching Men, unabridged, divided into 17 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of Marching Men by Sherwood Anderson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 85 sentences, grouped into 17 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 17 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 17 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 7 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 Marching Men by Sherwood Anderson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4075 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #7045 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #7045, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 339 minutes of reading across 815 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Marching Men section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 34 chapters of Marching Men 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 Marching Men, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
