Chapter 7 of The rasp is here in full — 523 sentences across 105 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of The rasp is here in full — 523 sentences across 105 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence. “I hope Lucia will be all right,” he said. “Probably it was the heat. It’s a scorcher to-day.” Anthony nodded.
Chapter 7 of The rasp is here in full — 523 sentences across 105 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/104 · 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.
Roman general under Julius Caesar in the Gallic wars; repudiated his wife for the Egyptian queen Cleopatra; they were defeated by Octavian at Actium (83-30 BC)
From this reading “Anthony nodded.”
lacking funds
From this reading “The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.”
a person who is older than you are
From this reading “The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.”
a form of energy that is transferred by a difference in temperature
From this reading ““Probably it was the heat.”
inflected form of “nod” — express or signify by nodding
From this reading “Anthony nodded.”
an extremely hot day
From this reading “It’s a scorcher to-day.””
a person who is head of an administrative department of government
From this reading “The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.”
plural of “yard” — a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride
From this reading “The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.”
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 “The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.”
being ten more than one hundred ninety
In this reading “The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.”
In this reading “The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.”
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 It’s a scorcher to-day.”
(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 “I hope Lucia will be all right,” he said.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
Roman general under Julius Caesar in the Gallic wars; repudiated his wife for the Egyptian queen Cleopatra; they were defeated by Octavian at Actium (83-30 BC)
From this reading Anthony nodded.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading “I hope Lucia will be all right,” he said.
earlier than; in front of
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
lacking funds
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
a person who is older than you are
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading “I hope Lucia will be all right,” he said.
a form of energy that is transferred by a difference in temperature
From this reading “Probably it was the heat.
a specific instance of feeling hopeful
From this reading “I hope Lucia will be all right,” he said.
ten 10s
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “I hope Lucia will be all right,” he said.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading “Probably it was the heat.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It’s a scorcher to-day.”
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “I hope Lucia will be all right,” he said.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
inflected form of “nod” — express or signify by nodding
From this reading Anthony nodded.
by chance
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
with considerable certainty; without much doubt
From this reading “Probably it was the heat.
precisely, exactly
From this reading “I hope Lucia will be all right,” he said.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “I hope Lucia will be all right,” he said.
an extremely hot day
From this reading It’s a scorcher to-day.”
a person who is head of an administrative department of government
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
Complete absence of sound; a state of quietness and stillness.
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
a female person who has the same parents as another person
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
the people, animals, or things already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading It’s a scorcher to-day.”
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
past form of “walk” — use one's feet to advance; advance by steps
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading “Probably it was the heat.
used to talk about the future, or about willingness
From this reading “I hope Lucia will be all right,” he said.
plural of “yard” — a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride
From this reading The Secretary and the Sister They had walked for perhaps two hundred yards before the elder man broke the silence.
Chapter 7 of The rasp by Philip MacDonald holds 523 sentences, grouped into 105 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 523 sentences of The rasp, unabridged, divided into 105 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of The rasp by Philip MacDonald exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 523 sentences, grouped into 105 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 105 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 105 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 rasp by Philip MacDonald on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 6595 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #72462 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #72462, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 549 minutes of reading across 1319 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The rasp section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 19 chapters of The rasp 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 rasp, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
