Chapter 7 of When You Were a Boy is here in full — 450 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter VII
Chapter 7 of When You Were a Boy is here in full — 450 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Give Hen the gun? Well, hardly! You clutch it the tighter, and strain and peer. Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes. “I see him!” you mutter exultantly.
Chapter 7 of When You Were a Boy is here in full — 450 sentences across 90 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/90 · 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.
in a busy manner
From this reading “Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.”
the act of grasping
From this reading “You clutch it the tighter, and strain and peer.”
in an exultant manner
From this reading ““I see him!” you mutter exultantly.”
talk indistinctly; usually in a low voice
From this reading ““I see him!” you mutter exultantly.”
-ing form of “peck” — hit lightly with a picking motion
From this reading “Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.”
a person who is of equal standing with another in a group
From this reading “You clutch it the tighter, and strain and peer.”
comparative of “tight” — closely constrained or constricted or constricting
From this reading “You clutch it the tighter, and strain and peer.”
plural of “toe” — one of the digits of the foot
From this reading “Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.”
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 “Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.”
eat like a bird
In this reading “Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.”
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 Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading You clutch it the tighter, and strain and peer.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
tough protective covering of the woody stems and roots of trees and other woody plants
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
Directly under; in or to a lower position than.
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
in a busy manner
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
a boy or man
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
the act of grasping
From this reading You clutch it the tighter, and strain and peer.
having ones attention or mind or energy engaged
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
in an exultant manner
From this reading “I see him!” you mutter exultantly.
cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading Give Hen the gun?
a quick look
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
a weapon that discharges a missile at high velocity (especially from a metal tube or barrel)
From this reading Give Hen the gun?
only a very short time before
From this reading Well, hardly!
adult female chicken
From this reading Give Hen the gun?
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “I see him!” you mutter exultantly.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading You clutch it the tighter, and strain and peer.
talk indistinctly; usually in a low voice
From this reading “I see him!” you mutter exultantly.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
-ing form of “peck” — hit lightly with a picking motion
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
a person who is of equal standing with another in a group
From this reading You clutch it the tighter, and strain and peer.
a fabric woven with flecks of light and dark
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading “I see him!” you mutter exultantly.
(physics) deformation of a physical body under the action of applied forces
From this reading You clutch it the tighter, and strain and peer.
be agreeable or acceptable to
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Give Hen the gun?
comparative of “tight” — closely constrained or constricted or constricting
From this reading You clutch it the tighter, and strain and peer.
very small
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
plural of “toe” — one of the digits of the foot
From this reading Now you glimpse him—a tiny chap in a pepper-and-salt suit, busily engaged in pecking at the bark beneath his toes.
(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 Well, hardly!
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading You clutch it the tighter, and strain and peer.
Chapter 7 of When You Were a Boy by Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand) Sabin holds 450 sentences, grouped into 90 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 450 sentences of When You Were a Boy, unabridged, divided into 90 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 7 of When You Were a Boy by Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand) Sabin exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 450 sentences, grouped into 90 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 90 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 90 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 When You Were a Boy by Edwin L. (Edwin Legrand) Sabin on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3082 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #58165 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #58165, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 256 minutes of reading across 617 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through When You Were a Boy section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 7 chapters of When You Were a Boy 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 When You Were a Boy, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
