Chapter 4 of The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts is here in full — 436 sentences across 88 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts is here in full — 436 sentences across 88 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
NORAH. It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here. GERTIE. You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six. You’re all the same, all of you.
Chapter 4 of The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts is here in full — 436 sentences across 88 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/87 · 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.
any thing at all
From this reading “You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.”
physically and forcibly separated into pieces or cracked or split
From this reading “It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here.”
a young person of either sex
From this reading “You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.”
lacking in or deprived of strength or power
From this reading “You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.”
Identical; not different.
From this reading “You’re all the same, all of you.”
from a time in the past until now
From this reading “It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here.”
the cardinal number that is the sum of five and one
From this reading “You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.”
one of three equal parts of a divisible whole
From this reading “It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here.”
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.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.
(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 You’re all the same, all of you.
any thing at all
From this reading You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here.
physically and forcibly separated into pieces or cracked or split
From this reading It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.
a young person of either sex
From this reading You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading GERTIE.
lacking in or deprived of strength or power
From this reading You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here.
(comparative of “much” used with mass nouns) a quantifier meaning greater in size or amount or extent or degree
From this reading You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading NORAH.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.
and nothing more
From this reading It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here.
Identical; not different.
From this reading You’re all the same, all of you.
from a time in the past until now
From this reading It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here.
the cardinal number that is the sum of five and one
From this reading You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.
used to introduce the second part of a comparison
From this reading You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here.
a special situation
From this reading It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here.
one of three equal parts of a divisible whole
From this reading It’s only the third thing I’ve broken since I’ve been here.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading You can’t do anything; you’re more helpless than a child of six.
Chapter 4 of The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham holds 436 sentences, grouped into 88 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 436 sentences of The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts, unabridged, divided into 88 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 436 sentences, grouped into 88 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 88 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 88 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.
Common questions about reading The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts by W. Somerset (William Somerset) Maugham on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of The Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts 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 Land of Promise: A Comedy in Four Acts, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
