Chapter 12 of The New McGuffey Fourth Reader is here in full — 182 sentences across 37 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XII
Chapter 12 of The New McGuffey Fourth Reader is here in full — 182 sentences across 37 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
DEFINITIONS:--Greensward, turf or sod green with grass. Mold, crumbling earth. Lea, a grassy field. Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes. Line, the equator.
Chapter 12 of The New McGuffey Fourth Reader is here in full — 182 sentences across 37 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/36 · 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.
-ing form of “crumble” — fall apart
From this reading “Mold, crumbling earth.”
plural of “definition” — a concise explanation of the meaning of a word or phrase or symbol
From this reading “DEFINITIONS:--Greensward, turf or sod green with grass.”
an imaginary line around the Earth forming the great circle that is equidistant from the north and south poles
From this reading “Line, the equator.”
plural of “grape” — any of various juicy fruit of the genus Vitis with green or purple skins; grow in clusters
From this reading “Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.”
a unit of length of thread or yarn
From this reading “Lea, a grassy field.”
the distinctive form in which a thing is made
From this reading “Mold, crumbling earth.”
a republic in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula; Portuguese explorers and colonists in the 15th and 16th centuries created a vast overseas empire (including Brazil)
From this reading “Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.”
surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots
From this reading “DEFINITIONS:--Greensward, turf or sod green with grass.”
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 Lea, a grassy field.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.
the weather in some location averaged over some long period of time
From this reading Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.
-ing form of “crumble” — fall apart
From this reading Mold, crumbling earth.
plural of “definition” — a concise explanation of the meaning of a word or phrase or symbol
From this reading DEFINITIONS:--Greensward, turf or sod green with grass.
greatly pleasing or entertaining
From this reading Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.
the 3rd planet from the sun; the planet we live on
From this reading Mold, crumbling earth.
an imaginary line around the Earth forming the great circle that is equidistant from the north and south poles
From this reading Line, the equator.
a piece of land cleared of trees and usually enclosed
From this reading Lea, a grassy field.
being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition
From this reading Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.
plural of “grape” — any of various juicy fruit of the genus Vitis with green or purple skins; grow in clusters
From this reading Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.
shoot down, of birds
From this reading DEFINITIONS:--Greensward, turf or sod green with grass.
abounding in grass
From this reading Lea, a grassy field.
green color or pigment; resembling the color of growing grass
From this reading DEFINITIONS:--Greensward, turf or sod green with grass.
surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots
From this reading DEFINITIONS:--Greensward, turf or sod green with grass.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.
a unit of length of thread or yarn
From this reading Lea, a grassy field.
a formation of people or things one beside another
From this reading Line, the equator.
the distinctive form in which a thing is made
From this reading Mold, crumbling earth.
widely known and esteemed
From this reading Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading DEFINITIONS:--Greensward, turf or sod green with grass.
a republic in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula; Portuguese explorers and colonists in the 15th and 16th centuries created a vast overseas empire (including Brazil)
From this reading Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.
surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots
From this reading DEFINITIONS:--Greensward, turf or sod green with grass.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Line, the equator.
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading Cintra, a town in Portugal noted for its fine climate and its delicious grapes.
surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots
From this reading DEFINITIONS:--Greensward, turf or sod green with grass.
in the company of; together with
From this reading DEFINITIONS:--Greensward, turf or sod green with grass.
Chapter 12 of The New McGuffey Fourth Reader by William Holmes [Compiler] McGuffey holds 182 sentences, grouped into 37 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 12 holds 182 sentences of The New McGuffey Fourth Reader, unabridged, divided into 37 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 12 of The New McGuffey Fourth Reader by William Holmes [Compiler] McGuffey exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 182 sentences, grouped into 37 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 37 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 37 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 12 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 New McGuffey Fourth Reader by William Holmes [Compiler] McGuffey on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2855 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1490 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1490, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 237 minutes of reading across 571 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The New McGuffey Fourth Reader section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 17 chapters of The New McGuffey Fourth Reader 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 New McGuffey Fourth Reader, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
