Chapter 7 of The Gates of Chance is here in full — 424 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of The Gates of Chance is here in full — 424 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue. He spoke English perfectly, and looked both honest and shrewd. Well, we would find some way of getting the truth out of him. A police-officer opened the door for me. So the blow had fallen already.
Chapter 7 of The Gates of Chance is here in full — 424 sentences across 85 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/84 · 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.
be present or associated with an event or entity
From this reading “Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.”
a line of approach
From this reading “Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.”
exhale hard
From this reading “So the blow had fallen already.”
by good fortune
From this reading “Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.”
not disposed to cheat or defraud; not deceptive or fraudulent
From this reading “He spoke English perfectly, and looked both honest and shrewd.”
4th President of the United States; member of the Continental Congress and rapporteur at the Constitutional Convention in 1776; helped frame the Bill of Rights (1751-1836)
From this reading “Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.”
past form of “persuade” — win approval or support for
From this reading “Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.”
marked by practical hardheaded intelligence
From this reading “He spoke English perfectly, and looked both honest and shrewd.”
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 Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading A police-officer opened the door for me.
be present or associated with an event or entity
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
prior to a specified or implied time
From this reading So the blow had fallen already.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
a line of approach
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
exhale hard
From this reading So the blow had fallen already.
the two together, not just one
From this reading He spoke English perfectly, and looked both honest and shrewd.
a swinging or sliding barrier that will close the entrance to a room or building or vehicle
From this reading A police-officer opened the door for me.
an Indo-European language belonging to the West Germanic branch; the official language of Britain and the United States and most of the commonwealth countries
From this reading He spoke English perfectly, and looked both honest and shrewd.
having dropped by the force of gravity
From this reading So the blow had fallen already.
come upon, as if by accident; meet with
From this reading Well, we would find some way of getting the truth out of him.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading A police-officer opened the door for me.
by good fortune
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
the act of acquiring something
From this reading Well, we would find some way of getting the truth out of him.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading So the blow had fallen already.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He spoke English perfectly, and looked both honest and shrewd.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
not disposed to cheat or defraud; not deceptive or fraudulent
From this reading He spoke English perfectly, and looked both honest and shrewd.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading He spoke English perfectly, and looked both honest and shrewd.
4th President of the United States; member of the Continental Congress and rapporteur at the Constitutional Convention in 1776; helped frame the Bill of Rights (1751-1836)
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Well, we would find some way of getting the truth out of him.
used of mouth or eyes
From this reading A police-officer opened the door for me.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading Well, we would find some way of getting the truth out of him.
completely and without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
From this reading He spoke English perfectly, and looked both honest and shrewd.
past form of “persuade” — win approval or support for
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A police-officer opened the door for me.
marked by practical hardheaded intelligence
From this reading He spoke English perfectly, and looked both honest and shrewd.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading So the blow had fallen already.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading Well, we would find some way of getting the truth out of him.
support consisting of a radial member of a wheel joining the hub to the rim
From this reading He spoke English perfectly, and looked both honest and shrewd.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Well, we would find some way of getting the truth out of him.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
a fact that has been verified
From this reading Well, we would find some way of getting the truth out of him.
the brother of your father or mother; the husband of your aunt
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Uncle Bartolomeo was fortunately at home, and I persuaded him to accompany me back to 4020 Madison Avenue.
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading Well, we would find some way of getting the truth out of him.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading Well, we would find some way of getting the truth out of him.
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading Well, we would find some way of getting the truth out of him.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading Well, we would find some way of getting the truth out of him.
Chapter 7 of The Gates of Chance by Van Tassel Sutphen holds 424 sentences, grouped into 85 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 7 holds 424 sentences of The Gates of Chance, unabridged, divided into 85 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of The Gates of Chance by Van Tassel Sutphen exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 424 sentences, grouped into 85 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 85 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 85 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 Gates of Chance by Van Tassel Sutphen on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3853 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #3758 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #3758, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 321 minutes of reading across 771 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Gates of Chance section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 9 chapters of The Gates of Chance 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 Gates of Chance, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
