Chapter 1 of The Devil's Dooryard is here in full — 499 sentences across 100 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Devil's Dooryard is here in full — 499 sentences across 100 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Author of “Figures of Speech,” “No Wonder,” etc. “I has to disagree with yuh, cowboy. There is some romance left. A little barb-wire and a few sheep don’t cut the romance out of the cow-land. She’s there, Sleepy.”
Chapter 1 of The Devil's Dooryard is here in full — 499 sentences across 100 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/99 · 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.
writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
From this reading “Author of “Figures of Speech,” “No Wonder,” etc.”
a hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback
From this reading ““I has to disagree with yuh, cowboy.”
be of different opinions
From this reading ““I has to disagree with yuh, cowboy.”
plural of “figure” — a diagram or picture illustrating textual material
From this reading “Author of “Figures of Speech,” “No Wonder,” etc.”
a relationship between two lovers
From this reading “There is some romance left.”
woolly usually horned ruminant mammal related to the goat
From this reading “A little barb-wire and a few sheep don’t cut the romance out of the cow-land.”
ready to fall asleep
From this reading “She’s there, Sleepy.””
the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience
From this reading “Author of “Figures of Speech,” “No Wonder,” etc.”
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.
not be very easily digestible
In this reading ““I has to disagree with yuh, cowboy.”
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 A little barb-wire and a few sheep don’t cut the romance out of the cow-land.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading A little barb-wire and a few sheep don’t cut the romance out of the cow-land.
writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
From this reading Author of “Figures of Speech,” “No Wonder,” etc.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A little barb-wire and a few sheep don’t cut the romance out of the cow-land.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A little barb-wire and a few sheep don’t cut the romance out of the cow-land.
a hired hand who tends cattle and performs other duties on horseback
From this reading “I has to disagree with yuh, cowboy.
separate with or as if with an instrument
From this reading A little barb-wire and a few sheep don’t cut the romance out of the cow-land.
be of different opinions
From this reading “I has to disagree with yuh, cowboy.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A little barb-wire and a few sheep don’t cut the romance out of the cow-land.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Author of “Figures of Speech,” “No Wonder,” etc.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “a”; a small but indefinite number
From this reading A little barb-wire and a few sheep don’t cut the romance out of the cow-land.
plural of “figure” — a diagram or picture illustrating textual material
From this reading Author of “Figures of Speech,” “No Wonder,” etc.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading “I has to disagree with yuh, cowboy.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “I has to disagree with yuh, cowboy.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading There is some romance left.
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 There is some romance left.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading A little barb-wire and a few sheep don’t cut the romance out of the cow-land.
not any; not one
From this reading Author of “Figures of Speech,” “No Wonder,” etc.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Author of “Figures of Speech,” “No Wonder,” etc.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading A little barb-wire and a few sheep don’t cut the romance out of the cow-land.
a relationship between two lovers
From this reading There is some romance left.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading She’s there, Sleepy.”
woolly usually horned ruminant mammal related to the goat
From this reading A little barb-wire and a few sheep don’t cut the romance out of the cow-land.
ready to fall asleep
From this reading She’s there, Sleepy.”
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading There is some romance left.
the act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audience
From this reading Author of “Figures of Speech,” “No Wonder,” etc.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading A little barb-wire and a few sheep don’t cut the romance out of the cow-land.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There is some romance left.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “I has to disagree with yuh, cowboy.
in the company of; together with
From this reading “I has to disagree with yuh, cowboy.
the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising
From this reading Author of “Figures of Speech,” “No Wonder,” etc.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “I has to disagree with yuh, cowboy.
Chapter 1 of The Devil's Dooryard by W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle holds 499 sentences, grouped into 100 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 1 holds 499 sentences of The Devil's Dooryard, unabridged, divided into 100 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Devil's Dooryard by W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 499 sentences, grouped into 100 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 100 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 100 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 1 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 Devil's Dooryard by W. C. (Wilbur C.) Tuttle on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1473 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #65759 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #65759, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 122 minutes of reading across 295 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Devil's Dooryard section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 3 chapters of The Devil's Dooryard 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 Devil's Dooryard, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
