Chapter 4 of The Cardinal Moth is here in full — 407 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of The Cardinal Moth is here in full — 407 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"Then what are you making all this silly fuss about? Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death. Other inquisitive thieves are likely to meet with the same fate. Past master amongst congenial idiots, go to bed." Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
Chapter 4 of The Cardinal Moth is here in full — 407 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/81 · 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.
without advance planning
From this reading “Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.”
having a back or backing, usually of a specified type
From this reading “Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.”
suitable to your needs
From this reading “Past master amongst congenial idiots, go to bed."”
worry unnecessarily or excessively
From this reading “"Then what are you making all this silly fuss about?”
plural of “idiot” — a person of subnormal intelligence
From this reading “Past master amongst congenial idiots, go to bed."”
showing curiosity
From this reading “Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.”
deliver a hard blow to
From this reading “Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.”
appearing to be as specified; usually used as combining forms
From this reading “Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.”
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 “"Then what are you making all this silly fuss about?”
In this reading “Other inquisitive thieves are likely to meet with the same fate.”
In this reading “Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.”
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 Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading "Then what are you making all this silly fuss about?
without advance planning
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
(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 "Then what are you making all this silly fuss about?
surrounded by; in the company of
From this reading Past master amongst congenial idiots, go to bed."
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading "Then what are you making all this silly fuss about?
having a back or backing, usually of a specified type
From this reading Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
a piece of furniture that provides a place to sleep
From this reading Past master amongst congenial idiots, go to bed."
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
an authoritative direction or instruction to do something
From this reading Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
suitable to your needs
From this reading Past master amongst congenial idiots, go to bed."
the event of dying or departure from life
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future
From this reading Other inquisitive thieves are likely to meet with the same fate.
English explorer who led an expedition in search of the Northwest Passage to the orient; served under Drake and helped defeat the Spanish Armada (1535-1594)
From this reading Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
worry unnecessarily or excessively
From this reading "Then what are you making all this silly fuss about?
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading Past master amongst congenial idiots, go to bed."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
plural of “idiot” — a person of subnormal intelligence
From this reading Past master amongst congenial idiots, go to bed."
showing curiosity
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
has a good chance of being the case or of coming about
From this reading Other inquisitive thieves are likely to meet with the same fate.
the act that results in something coming to be
From this reading "Then what are you making all this silly fuss about?
an artist of consummate skill
From this reading Past master amongst congenial idiots, go to bed."
come together
From this reading Other inquisitive thieves are likely to meet with the same fate.
inflected form of “meet” — come together
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
killed unlawfully
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
no person; not anyone
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
not the same one or ones already mentioned or implied
From this reading Other inquisitive thieves are likely to meet with the same fate.
the time that has elapsed
From this reading Past master amongst congenial idiots, go to bed."
Identical; not different.
From this reading Other inquisitive thieves are likely to meet with the same fate.
in a vehement outcry
From this reading Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
a place within a region identified relative to a center or reference location
From this reading Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
ludicrous, foolish
From this reading "Then what are you making all this silly fuss about?
deliver a hard blow to
From this reading Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
appearing to be as specified; usually used as combining forms
From this reading Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Other inquisitive thieves are likely to meet with the same fate.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading "Then what are you making all this silly fuss about?
a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
plural of “thief” — a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it
From this reading Other inquisitive thieves are likely to meet with the same fate.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading "Then what are you making all this silly fuss about?
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Other inquisitive thieves are likely to meet with the same fate.
being or moving higher in position or greater in some value; being above a former position or level
From this reading Frobisher shouted the command backed up by a sounding smack on the side of Hafid’s head.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading "Then what are you making all this silly fuss about?
which person or people
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Nobody has been murdered but an inquisitive thief who has accidentally met with his death.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "Then what are you making all this silly fuss about?
Chapter 4 of The Cardinal Moth by Fred M. (Fred Merrick) White holds 407 sentences, grouped into 82 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 407 sentences of The Cardinal Moth, unabridged, divided into 82 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of The Cardinal Moth by Fred M. (Fred Merrick) White exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 407 sentences, grouped into 82 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 82 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 82 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 The Cardinal Moth by Fred M. (Fred Merrick) White on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5260 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #43674 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #43674, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 438 minutes of reading across 1052 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Cardinal Moth section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 13 chapters of The Cardinal Moth 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 Cardinal Moth, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
