Chapter 4 of The Underdogs is here in full — 239 sentences across 48 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter IV
Chapter 4 of The Underdogs is here in full — 239 sentences across 48 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"Look here, do your best, see. I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please." Discreetly, Luis Cervantes made no reply. A week, ten days, a fortnight elapsed. The Federal troops seemed to have vanished.
Chapter 4 of The Underdogs is here in full — 239 sentences across 48 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/47 · 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.
Spanish writer best remembered for “Don Quixote” which satirizes chivalry and influenced the development of the novel form (1547-1616)
From this reading “Discreetly, Luis Cervantes made no reply.”
used as expletives
From this reading “I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."”
with discretion; prudently and with wise self-restraint
From this reading “Discreetly, Luis Cervantes made no reply.”
(of time) having passed or slipped by
From this reading “A week, ten days, a fortnight elapsed.”
national; especially in reference to the government of the United States as distinct from that of its member units
From this reading “The Federal troops seemed to have vanished.”
a period of fourteen consecutive days
From this reading “A week, ten days, a fortnight elapsed.”
get or find back; recover the use of
From this reading “I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."”
soldiers collectively
From this reading “The Federal troops seemed to have vanished.”
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 A week, ten days, a fortnight elapsed.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
at or in or to any place
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
the supreme effort one can make
From this reading "Look here, do your best, see.
to be able to, or to be allowed to
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
Spanish writer best remembered for “Don Quixote” which satirizes chivalry and influenced the development of the novel form (1547-1616)
From this reading Discreetly, Luis Cervantes made no reply.
used as expletives
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
the time during which someone's life continues
From this reading A week, ten days, a fortnight elapsed.
with discretion; prudently and with wise self-restraint
From this reading Discreetly, Luis Cervantes made no reply.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading "Look here, do your best, see.
(of time) having passed or slipped by
From this reading A week, ten days, a fortnight elapsed.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
national; especially in reference to the government of the United States as distinct from that of its member units
From this reading The Federal troops seemed to have vanished.
a period of fourteen consecutive days
From this reading A week, ten days, a fortnight elapsed.
change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading The Federal troops seemed to have vanished.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading "Look here, do your best, see.
where you live at a particular time
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading "Look here, do your best, see.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Discreetly, Luis Cervantes made no reply.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading Discreetly, Luis Cervantes made no reply.
not any; not one
From this reading Discreetly, Luis Cervantes made no reply.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
give pleasure to or be pleasing to
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
get or find back; recover the use of
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
a statement (either spoken or written) that is made to reply to a question or request or criticism or accusation
From this reading Discreetly, Luis Cervantes made no reply.
perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading "Look here, do your best, see.
past form of “seem” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading The Federal troops seemed to have vanished.
in the near future
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
the cardinal number that is the sum of nine and one; the base of the decimal system
From this reading A week, ten days, a fortnight elapsed.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The Federal troops seemed to have vanished.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
soldiers collectively
From this reading The Federal troops seemed to have vanished.
having passed out of existence
From this reading The Federal troops seemed to have vanished.
feel or have a desire for; want strongly
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
any period of seven consecutive days
From this reading A week, ten days, a fortnight elapsed.
(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 I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading I want to recover soon and then you can go home or anywhere else you damn well please."
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "Look here, do your best, see.
Chapter 4 of The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela holds 239 sentences, grouped into 48 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 239 sentences of The Underdogs, unabridged, divided into 48 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 4 of The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela exactly as it stands in the public-domain source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 239 sentences, grouped into 48 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 48 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 48 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 Underdogs by Mariano Azuela on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3037 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #549 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #549, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 253 minutes of reading across 608 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Underdogs section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 13 chapters of The Underdogs 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 Underdogs, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
