Chapter 7 of The Burning Spear is here in full — 214 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of The Burning Spear is here in full — 214 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“Down, Blink, down!” said Mr. Lavender. “Watch this little moon-cat and her perfect manners! We may all learn from her how not to be crude. See the light shining through her pretty ears!” The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
Chapter 7 of The Burning Spear is here in full — 214 sentences across 43 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/42 · 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.
briefly shut the eyes
From this reading ““Down, Blink, down!” said Mr. Lavender.”
feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and no ability to roar: domestic cats; wildcats
From this reading ““Watch this little moon-cat and her perfect manners!”
-ing form of “crouch” — bend one's back forward from the waist on down
From this reading “The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.”
not carefully or expertly made
From this reading “We may all learn from her how not to be crude.”
of a pale purple color
From this reading ““Down, Blink, down!” said Mr. Lavender.”
social deportment
From this reading ““Watch this little moon-cat and her perfect manners!”
the posterior part of the body of a vertebrate especially when elongated and extending beyond the trunk or main part of the body
From this reading “The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.”
the extreme end of something; especially something pointed
From this reading “The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.”
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 The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
(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 We may all learn from her how not to be crude.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading “Watch this little moon-cat and her perfect manners!
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading We may all learn from her how not to be crude.
warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers and forelimbs modified as wings
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
briefly shut the eyes
From this reading “Down, Blink, down!” said Mr. Lavender.
feline mammal usually having thick soft fur and no ability to roar: domestic cats; wildcats
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
-ing form of “crouch” — bend one's back forward from the waist on down
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
not carefully or expertly made
From this reading We may all learn from her how not to be crude.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading “Down, Blink, down!” said Mr. Lavender.
plural of “ear” — the sense organ for hearing and equilibrium
From this reading See the light shining through her pretty ears!”
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading We may all learn from her how not to be crude.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading “Watch this little moon-cat and her perfect manners!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading We may all learn from her how not to be crude.
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
of a pale purple color
From this reading “Down, Blink, down!” said Mr. Lavender.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
gain knowledge or skills
From this reading We may all learn from her how not to be crude.
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 The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
of comparatively little physical weight or density
From this reading See the light shining through her pretty ears!”
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading “Watch this little moon-cat and her perfect manners!
social deportment
From this reading “Watch this little moon-cat and her perfect manners!
used to say something is possible, or to give permission
From this reading We may all learn from her how not to be crude.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Watch this little moon-cat and her perfect manners!
in motion
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
a form of address for a man
From this reading “Down, Blink, down!” said Mr. Lavender.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading We may all learn from her how not to be crude.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish
From this reading “Watch this little moon-cat and her perfect manners!
pleasing by delicacy or grace; not imposing
From this reading See the light shining through her pretty ears!”
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “Down, Blink, down!” said Mr. Lavender.
perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading See the light shining through her pretty ears!”
inflected form of “see” — perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
marked by exceptional merit
From this reading See the light shining through her pretty ears!”
lift onto one's shoulders
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
a place within a region identified relative to a center or reference location
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
the posterior part of the body of a vertebrate especially when elongated and extending beyond the trunk or main part of the body
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading See the light shining through her pretty ears!”
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading “Watch this little moon-cat and her perfect manners!
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading See the light shining through her pretty ears!”
the extreme end of something; especially something pointed
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading We may all learn from her how not to be crude.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
look attentively
From this reading “Watch this little moon-cat and her perfect manners!
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading We may all learn from her how not to be crude.
which person or people
From this reading The little cat, who had seen a bird, had left Mr. Lavender's shoulder, and was now crouching and moving the tip of its tail from side to side.
Chapter 7 of The Burning Spear by John Galsworthy holds 214 sentences, grouped into 43 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 214 sentences of The Burning Spear, unabridged, divided into 43 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of The Burning Spear by John Galsworthy exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 214 sentences, grouped into 43 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 43 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 43 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 The Burning Spear by John Galsworthy on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2838 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #2905 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #2905, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 236 minutes of reading across 568 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Burning Spear section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 15 chapters of The Burning Spear 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 The Burning Spear, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
