Chapter 8 of The fourth progressive reader is here in full — 398 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of The fourth progressive reader is here in full — 398 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
8. The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now. 9. The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.” 10.
Chapter 8 of The fourth progressive reader is here in full — 398 sentences across 80 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/79 · 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.
someone who works with their hands; someone engaged in manual labor
From this reading “The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.”
a person who is very poor
From this reading “The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.”
to break and turn over earth especially with a plow
From this reading “The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.”
a playing card in the major suit that has one or more black figures on it
From this reading “The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.”
rebuffed (by a lover) without warning
From this reading “The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.”
past form of “will” — decree or ordain
From this reading “The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.””
plural of “will” — the capability of conscious choice and decision and intention
From this reading “The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.””
officer in the (ceremonial) bodyguard of the British monarch
From this reading “The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.”
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.
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.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading 10.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading 8.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading 9.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
a person or thing that is a resource that helps make something easier or possible to do
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
(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 The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
utter a sudden loud cry
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
every one of two or more people or things, taken separately
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
drained of energy or effectiveness; extremely tired; completely exhausted
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
descend in free fall under the influence of gravity
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
decreasing in amount or degree
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
an event (or a course of events) that will inevitably happen in the future
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
an interior passage or corridor onto which rooms open
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
perceive (sound) via the auditory sense
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
temporary military shelter
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
someone who works with their hands; someone engaged in manual labor
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
the collection of rules imposed by authority
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
be located or situated somewhere; occupy a certain position
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
the deliberate act of deviating from the truth
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
on one occasion
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
a person who is very poor
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
to break and turn over earth especially with a plow
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
a playing card in the major suit that has one or more black figures on it
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
rebuffed (by a lover) without warning
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
detrimental to physical or moral well-being
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
having no beneficial use or incapable of functioning usefully
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
past form of “will” — decree or ordain
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
plural of “will” — the capability of conscious choice and decision and intention
From this reading The roof-trees fall of hut and hall, I hear them fall, and falling cry, “One fate for each, one fate for all; So wills the Law that willed a lie.”
officer in the (ceremonial) bodyguard of the British monarch
From this reading The laborer spurned his lying spade, The yeoman spurned his useless plow; The pauper spurned the unwholesome aid, Obtruded once, exhausted now.
Chapter 8 of The fourth progressive reader by Anonymous holds 398 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 8 holds 398 sentences of The fourth progressive reader, unabridged, divided into 80 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of The fourth progressive reader by Anonymous exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 398 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 8 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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About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The fourth progressive reader section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
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Play the section aloud, then tap any unfamiliar word for its entry.
Words and structures a reader meets early in The fourth progressive reader, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
