Chapter 5 of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) is here in full — 396 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) is here in full — 396 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair." (_gare,_ skirt. _steer,_ stir.) Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame." "Theres thirty marys i' my bower, There's thirty o' them an' three;
Chapter 5 of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) is here in full — 396 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/79 · 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.
a framework that supports climbing plants
From this reading “"Theres thirty marys i' my bower, There's thirty o' them an' three;”
an association of criminals
From this reading “Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."”
a person employed to carry luggage and supplies
From this reading “Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."”
a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or guilt
From this reading “Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."”
cloth covering that forms the part of a garment below the waist
From this reading “(_gare,_ skirt.”
direct the course; determine the direction of travelling
move an implement through
From this reading “_steer,_ stir.)”
the cardinal number that is the product of ten and three
From this reading “"Theres thirty marys i' my bower, There's thirty o' them an' three;”
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 “Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."”
In this reading “Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."”
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 Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
a framework that supports climbing plants
From this reading "Theres thirty marys i' my bower, There's thirty o' them an' three;
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules
From this reading Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."
an association of criminals
From this reading Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading (_gare,_ skirt.
having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified
From this reading Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."
green color or pigment; resembling the color of growing grass
From this reading Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."
stable gear consisting of either of two curved supports that are attached to the collar of a draft horse and that hold the traces
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
cause to continue in a certain state, position, or activity; e.g., “keep clean”
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
a polite name for any woman
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading "Theres thirty marys i' my bower, There's thirty o' them an' three;
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 "Theres thirty marys i' my bower, There's thirty o' them an' three;
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."
a person employed to carry luggage and supplies
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
feeling self-respect or pleasure in something by which you measure your self-worth; or being a reason for pride
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
cause to go somewhere
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
a painful emotion resulting from an awareness of inadequacy or guilt
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
cloth covering that forms the part of a garment below the waist
From this reading (_gare,_ skirt.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
direct the course; determine the direction of travelling
From this reading _steer,_ stir.)
move an implement through
From this reading _steer,_ stir.)
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading "Theres thirty marys i' my bower, There's thirty o' them an' three;
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Theres thirty marys i' my bower, There's thirty o' them an' three;
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Theres thirty marys i' my bower, There's thirty o' them an' three;
the cardinal number that is the product of ten and three
From this reading "Theres thirty marys i' my bower, There's thirty o' them an' three;
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
From this reading "Theres thirty marys i' my bower, There's thirty o' them an' three;
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
the act of traveling by foot
From this reading Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."
(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 Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
past form of “wish” — hope for; have a wish
From this reading Then out it spake the proud porter-- Our lady wished him shame-- "Well send the marys to the wood, But well keep our lady at hame."
the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees
From this reading Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Gang out an' walk i' the good green wood, An' a your marys fair."
Chapter 5 of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) by R. Brimley (Reginald Brimley) [Editor] Johnson holds 396 sentences, grouped into 80 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 5 holds 396 sentences of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4), unabridged, divided into 80 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) by R. Brimley (Reginald Brimley) [Editor] Johnson exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 396 sentences, grouped into 80 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 80 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 80 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 5 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 Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) by R. Brimley (Reginald Brimley) [Editor] Johnson on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2618 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #45242 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #45242, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 218 minutes of reading across 524 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 6 chapters of Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4) 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 Popular British Ballads, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 2 (of 4), each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
