Chapter 7 of What Will People Say? A Novel is here in full — 260 sentences across 52 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of What Will People Say? A Novel is here in full — 260 sentences across 52 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The sky was black, and the stars dimmed by the street-lights. Stars and street-lights seemed to be weary. The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks. A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially: "Morn' paper?
Chapter 7 of What Will People Say? A Novel is here in full — 260 sentences across 52 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/52 · 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.
plural of “acrobat” — an athlete who performs acts requiring skill and agility and coordination
From this reading “The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.”
-ing form of “choose” — pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading “A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:”
in a confidential manner
From this reading “A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:”
made dim or less bright
From this reading “The sky was black, and the stars dimmed by the street-lights.”
plural of “firework” — (usually plural) a device with an explosive that burns at a low rate and with colored flames; can be used to illuminate areas or send signals etc.
From this reading “The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.”
plural of “frame” — the framework for a pair of eyeglasses
From this reading “The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.”
deprived of life; no longer living
From this reading “The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.”
cause to become awake or conscious
From this reading “A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:”
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.
get rid of (someone who may be a threat) by killing
In this reading “The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.”
In this reading “A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:”
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 grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
plural of “acrobat” — an athlete who performs acts requiring skill and agility and coordination
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
filled with fear or apprehension
From this reading A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The sky was black, and the stars dimmed by the street-lights.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Stars and street-lights seemed to be weary.
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading The sky was black, and the stars dimmed by the street-lights.
exhausted as a result of longtime stress
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading The sky was black, and the stars dimmed by the street-lights.
-ing form of “choose” — pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
in a confidential manner
From this reading A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
made dim or less bright
From this reading The sky was black, and the stars dimmed by the street-lights.
using or providing or producing or transmitting or operated by electricity
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
plural of “firework” — (usually plural) a device with an explosive that burns at a low rate and with colored flames; can be used to illuminate areas or send signals etc.
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
plural of “frame” — the framework for a pair of eyeglasses
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
inflected form of “hang” — be suspended or hanging
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
on condition that; in the event that
From this reading A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
past form of “knock” — deliver a sharp blow or push
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
deprived of life; no longer living
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
the time period between dawn and noon
From this reading "Morn' paper?
past form of “murmur” — speak softly or indistinctly
From this reading A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
a boy who delivers newspapers
From this reading A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
from a particular thing or place or position (“forth” is obsolete)
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
a material made of cellulose pulp derived mainly from wood or rags or certain grasses
From this reading "Morn' paper?
past form of “seem” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading Stars and street-lights seemed to be weary.
the atmosphere and outer space as viewed from the earth
From this reading The sky was black, and the stars dimmed by the street-lights.
the state of being asleep
From this reading A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
yielding readily to pressure or weight
From this reading A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
plural of “star” — (astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior
From this reading The sky was black, and the stars dimmed by the street-lights.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The sky was black, and the stars dimmed by the street-lights.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The sky was black, and the stars dimmed by the street-lights.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Stars and street-lights seemed to be weary.
the quality of a person's voice
From this reading A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
a formal word for “on”
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
cause to become awake or conscious
From this reading A grown-up newsboy, choosing a soft tone as if afraid to waken the sleeping town, murmured confidentially:
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The sky was black, and the stars dimmed by the street-lights.
exhaust or get tired through overuse or great strain or stress
From this reading Stars and street-lights seemed to be weary.
exert oneself by doing mental or physical work for a purpose or out of necessity
From this reading The electric acrobats had knocked off work, and hung lifeless upon their frames like burned-out fireworks.
Chapter 7 of What Will People Say? A Novel by Rupert Hughes holds 260 sentences, grouped into 52 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 260 sentences of What Will People Say? A Novel, unabridged, divided into 52 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of What Will People Say? A Novel by Rupert Hughes exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 260 sentences, grouped into 52 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 52 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 52 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 What Will People Say? A Novel by Rupert Hughes on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 11173 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #38311 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #38311, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 2235 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through What Will People Say? A Novel section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of What Will People Say? A Novel 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 What Will People Say? A Novel, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
