Chapter 4 of The children of Dickens is here in full — 460 sentences across 92 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of The children of Dickens is here in full — 460 sentences across 92 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Suppose it should not be done enough! Suppose it should break in turning out! Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid! All sorts of horrors were supposed. Hallo!
Chapter 4 of The children of Dickens is here in full — 460 sentences across 92 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/92 · 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.
web-footed long-necked typically gregarious migratory aquatic birds usually larger and less aquatic than ducks
From this reading “Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!”
plural of “horror” — intense and profound fear
From this reading “All sorts of horrors were supposed.”
anemic looking from illness or emotion
From this reading “Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!”
full of or showing high-spirited merriment
From this reading “Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!”
a person, without saying who
From this reading “Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!”
plural of “sort” — a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality
From this reading “All sorts of horrors were supposed.”
inflected form of “steal” — take without the owner's consent
From this reading “Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!”
a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
From this reading “Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!”
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 “Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!”
In this reading “All sorts of horrors were supposed.”
In this reading “Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!”
travel across or pass over
In this reading “Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!”
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 Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
(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 All sorts of horrors were supposed.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Suppose it should not be done enough!
inflected form of “become” — enter or assume a certain state or condition
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
terminate
From this reading Suppose it should break in turning out!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
having finished or arrived at completion
From this reading Suppose it should not be done enough!
an adequate quantity; a quantity that is large enough to achieve a purpose
From this reading Suppose it should not be done enough!
web-footed long-necked typically gregarious migratory aquatic birds usually larger and less aquatic than ducks
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Hallo!
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
plural of “horror” — intense and profound fear
From this reading All sorts of horrors were supposed.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Suppose it should break in turning out!
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Suppose it should not be done enough!
anemic looking from illness or emotion
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
full of or showing high-spirited merriment
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading Suppose it should not be done enough!
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Suppose it should break in turning out!
above and across; more than
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
used to say what is right, expected, or advisable
From this reading Suppose it should not be done enough!
a person, without saying who
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
plural of “sort” — a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality
From this reading All sorts of horrors were supposed.
inflected form of “steal” — take without the owner's consent
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
express a supposition
From this reading Suppose it should not be done enough!
required or under orders
From this reading All sorts of horrors were supposed.
a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
the act of changing or reversing the direction of the course
From this reading Suppose it should break in turning out!
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
an architectural partition with a height and length greater than its thickness; used to divide or enclose an area or to support another structure
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
used to introduce a clause giving more about a thing just mentioned
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
during the time that
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
in the company of; together with
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
(used of living things especially persons) in an early period of life or development or growth
From this reading Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it while they were merry with the goose--a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid!
Chapter 4 of The children of Dickens by Samuel McChord Crothers holds 460 sentences, grouped into 92 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 460 sentences of The children of Dickens, unabridged, divided into 92 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of The children of Dickens by Samuel McChord Crothers exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 460 sentences, grouped into 92 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 92 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 92 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.
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Words and structures a reader meets early in The children of Dickens, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
