Chapter 12 of The Plumed Serpent is here in full — 412 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XII
Chapter 12 of The Plumed Serpent is here in full — 412 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Kate was sewing. Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes. Kate taught her, and bought a length of cotton material. Maria del Carmen was sewing herself a dress! Julio had got work at a peso a day.
Chapter 12 of The Plumed Serpent is here in full — 412 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/82 · 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.
inflected form of “buy” — obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction
From this reading “Kate taught her, and bought a length of cotton material.”
a woman's sleeveless undergarment
From this reading “Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.”
soft silky fibers from cotton plants in their raw state
From this reading “Kate taught her, and bought a length of cotton material.”
a dark region of considerable extent on the surface of the moon
From this reading “Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.”
concerned with worldly rather than spiritual interests
From this reading “Kate taught her, and bought a length of cotton material.”
the basic unit of money in Uruguay; equal to 100 centesimos
From this reading “Julio had got work at a peso a day.”
joining or attaching by stitches
From this reading “Kate was sewing.”
inflected form of “teach” — impart skills or knowledge to
From this reading “Kate taught her, and bought a length of cotton material.”
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.
to exert effort in order to do, make, or perform something
In this reading “Julio had got work at a peso a day.”
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 Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Kate taught her, and bought a length of cotton material.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Julio had got work at a peso a day.
inflected form of “buy” — obtain by purchase; acquire by means of a financial transaction
From this reading Kate taught her, and bought a length of cotton material.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
a woman's sleeveless undergarment
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
soft silky fibers from cotton plants in their raw state
From this reading Kate taught her, and bought a length of cotton material.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading Julio had got work at a peso a day.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
put on clothes
From this reading Maria del Carmen was sewing herself a dress!
divisible by two
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
opinion or judgment
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading Julio had got work at a peso a day.
relatively large in size or number or extent; larger than others of its kind
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Julio had got work at a peso a day.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Kate taught her, and bought a length of cotton material.
used when the woman or girl doing the action is also its object
From this reading Maria del Carmen was sewing herself a dress!
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Julio had got work at a peso a day.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Kate was sewing.
be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
the linear extent in space from one end to the other; the longest dimension of something that is fixed in place
From this reading Kate taught her, and bought a length of cotton material.
a dark region of considerable extent on the surface of the moon
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
concerned with worldly rather than spiritual interests
From this reading Kate taught her, and bought a length of cotton material.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Kate taught her, and bought a length of cotton material.
the basic unit of money in Uruguay; equal to 100 centesimos
From this reading Julio had got work at a peso a day.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
joining or attaching by stitches
From this reading Kate was sewing.
inflected form of “teach” — impart skills or knowledge to
From this reading Kate taught her, and bought a length of cotton material.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
in contact with each other or in proximity
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Kate was sewing.
past form of “watch” — look attentively
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
which person or people
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Maria del Carmen, who didn’t even know how to put a chemise together, watched with great eyes.
exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
From this reading Julio had got work at a peso a day.
Chapter 12 of The Plumed Serpent by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence holds 412 sentences, grouped into 83 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 412 sentences of The Plumed Serpent, unabridged, divided into 83 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 12 of The Plumed Serpent by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 412 sentences, grouped into 83 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 83 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 83 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 Plumed Serpent by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 13514 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #73677 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #73677, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2703 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Plumed Serpent section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 33 chapters of The Plumed Serpent 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 Plumed Serpent, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
