Chapter 3 of The Illiterate Digest is here in full — 446 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter III
Chapter 3 of The Illiterate Digest is here in full — 446 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side. We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt. The Referee called an Unusual Foul. He said I had fouled by running over two of my own side. Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
Chapter 3 of The Illiterate Digest is here in full — 446 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/89 · 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.
plural of “beginner” — someone new to a field or activity
From this reading “Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.”
knock against with force or violence
From this reading “Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.”
troops trained to fight on horseback
From this reading “Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.”
highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust
From this reading “The Referee called an Unusual Foul.”
made dirty or foul
From this reading “He said I had fouled by running over two of my own side.”
deliver a sharp blow or push
From this reading “We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.”
a town in western California to the south of San Francisco on a peninsula at the southern end of Monterey Bay
From this reading “Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.”
(sports) the chief official (as in boxing or American football) who is expected to ensure fair play
From this reading “The Referee called an Unusual Foul.”
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 “Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.”
large animals that are hunted for sport
In this reading “Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.”
as might be expected
In this reading “We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.”
In this reading “We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.”
In this reading “Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.”
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 Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
(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 Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
the form of “be” used with “I”
From this reading We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading The Referee called an Unusual Foul.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.
the form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
plural of “beginner” — someone new to a field or activity
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
above average in size or number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
knock against with force or violence
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading He said I had fouled by running over two of my own side.
past form of “call” — assign a specified (usually proper) proper name to
From this reading The Referee called an Unusual Foul.
troops trained to fight on horseback
From this reading Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
education imparted in a series of lessons or meetings
From this reading We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.
descend in free fall under the influence of gravity
From this reading We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.
highly offensive; arousing aversion or disgust
From this reading The Referee called an Unusual Foul.
made dirty or foul
From this reading He said I had fouled by running over two of my own side.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
a contest with rules to determine a winner
From this reading Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading He said I had fouled by running over two of my own side.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He said I had fouled by running over two of my own side.
the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.
plural of “horse” — solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times
From this reading We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.
be the source of pain
From this reading We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.
deliver a sharp blow or push
From this reading We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.
The element of a person that enables awareness and thought.
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
a town in western California to the south of San Francisco on a peninsula at the southern end of Monterey Bay
From this reading Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.
immediately following in time or order
From this reading Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
belonging to the speaker and others
From this reading We knock our Horses down, I fall on my head and of course, am not hurt.
above and across; more than
From this reading He said I had fouled by running over two of my own side.
have ownership or possession of
From this reading He said I had fouled by running over two of my own side.
participate in games or sport
From this reading Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
(sports) the chief official (as in boxing or American football) who is expected to ensure fair play
From this reading The Referee called an Unusual Foul.
(of fluids) moving or issuing in a stream
From this reading He said I had fouled by running over two of my own side.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading He said I had fouled by running over two of my own side.
Identical; not different.
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
a place within a region identified relative to a center or reference location
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
in contact with each other or in proximity
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading He said I had fouled by running over two of my own side.
not usual or common or ordinary
From this reading The Referee called an Unusual Foul.
the speaker and others, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
(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, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading Well, the next day was the Big game; we were to play the 11th Cavalry from Monterey.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading Three of us beginners all bump together, Mind you, we are all three on the same side.
Chapter 3 of The Illiterate Digest by Will Rogers holds 446 sentences, grouped into 90 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 3 holds 446 sentences of The Illiterate Digest, unabridged, divided into 90 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 3 of The Illiterate Digest by Will Rogers exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 446 sentences, grouped into 90 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 90 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 90 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 3 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 Illiterate Digest by Will Rogers on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2657 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #72717 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #72717, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 221 minutes of reading across 532 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Illiterate Digest section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 6 chapters of The Illiterate Digest 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 Illiterate Digest, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
