Chapter 4 of Sea urchins is here in full — 400 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of Sea urchins is here in full — 400 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“I _heard_ him, pore little devil!” said the mate. “You all heard him,” said the skipper. “Well, there’s five witnesses I’ve got. He must have been mad. Didn’t nobody hear him go overboard?”
Chapter 4 of Sea urchins is here in full — 400 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/80 · 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.
(Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions) chief spirit of evil and adversary of God; tempter of mankind; master of Hell
From this reading ““I _heard_ him, pore little devil!” said the mate.”
roused to anger
From this reading “He must have been mad.”
the officer below the master on a commercial ship
From this reading ““I _heard_ him, pore little devil!” said the mate.”
no person; not anyone
From this reading “Didn’t nobody hear him go overboard?””
to extremes
From this reading “Didn’t nobody hear him go overboard?””
any tiny hole admitting passage of a liquid (fluid or gas)
From this reading ““I _heard_ him, pore little devil!” said the mate.”
a student who fails to attend classes
From this reading ““You all heard him,” said the skipper.”
plural of “witness” — someone who sees an event and reports what happened
From this reading ““Well, there’s five witnesses I’ve got.”
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.
(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 “You all heard him,” said the skipper.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading He must have been mad.
(Judeo-Christian and Islamic religions) chief spirit of evil and adversary of God; tempter of mankind; master of Hell
From this reading “I _heard_ him, pore little devil!” said the mate.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Didn’t nobody hear him go overboard?”
the cardinal number that is the sum of four and one
From this reading “Well, there’s five witnesses I’ve got.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading Didn’t nobody hear him go overboard?”
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading “Well, there’s five witnesses I’ve got.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading He must have been mad.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He must have been mad.
perceive (sound) via the auditory sense
From this reading Didn’t nobody hear him go overboard?”
detected or perceived by the sense of hearing
From this reading “I _heard_ him, pore little devil!” said the mate.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading “I _heard_ him, pore little devil!” said the mate.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “I _heard_ him, pore little devil!” said the mate.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Well, there’s five witnesses I’ve got.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading “I _heard_ him, pore little devil!” said the mate.
roused to anger
From this reading He must have been mad.
the officer below the master on a commercial ship
From this reading “I _heard_ him, pore little devil!” said the mate.
used to say something is necessary, or almost certainly true
From this reading He must have been mad.
no person; not anyone
From this reading Didn’t nobody hear him go overboard?”
to extremes
From this reading Didn’t nobody hear him go overboard?”
any tiny hole admitting passage of a liquid (fluid or gas)
From this reading “I _heard_ him, pore little devil!” said the mate.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “I _heard_ him, pore little devil!” said the mate.
a student who fails to attend classes
From this reading “You all heard him,” said the skipper.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading “I _heard_ him, pore little devil!” said the mate.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Well, there’s five witnesses I’ve got.
(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 “Well, there’s five witnesses I’ve got.
plural of “witness” — someone who sees an event and reports what happened
From this reading “Well, there’s five witnesses I’ve got.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “You all heard him,” said the skipper.
Chapter 4 of Sea urchins by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs holds 400 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 4 holds 400 sentences of Sea urchins, unabridged, divided into 80 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of Sea urchins by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 400 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 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 Sea urchins by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3210 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #21931 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #21931, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 267 minutes of reading across 642 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Sea urchins section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 8 chapters of Sea urchins 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 Sea urchins, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
