Dictation Sentences from Black Beauty
Level F: Lists 48-58

List 48

1. He was to get all the practice in driving that could be given to him.
2. “Practice makes perfect,” said the little man.
3. He did not notice it until just about four o’clock.
4. She had a good idea of what was coming.
5. I always knew it by his voice, and that had more power with me than anything else.
6. Her mouth was not so perfect as mine.
7. The black horse, I believe, is perfect for riding.
8. He sold me as a perfectly quiet horse to a man in the country.
9. I believe we horses can tell more by the voice than many men can.
10. It was nearly nine o’clock before he called for me, and then it was with a loud, rough voice.
11. He had his own way of making me understand by the tone of his voice.
12. There was only hardness in him, a hard voice, a hard eye, a hard hand.
13. Any little noise seemed quite loud.
14. I never heard such a noise as they made.

List 49

1. His voice was what I should know him by among a thousand.
2. He is about twenty or twenty-one, and he knows his business.
3. No, sir, certainly not, and if anybody has been saying that, I don’t believe it.
4. He rode us across the country about fifteen miles to the park.

List 50

1. She liked riding on horseback with her brother or cousins.
2. Will you call him Blackbird, like your uncle’s old horse?
3. He had given up all the hard part of the trade to his son.
4. My son has just been sent for, and he has taken the other.
5. I don’t believe that my old grandfather could have gone faster.
6. Your father has a great name in these parts.
7. He was like a father to me.
8. He sometimes carried one of the young ladies when they rode out with their father.
9. His father would like to give him the chance.
10. If you get on well, as I am sure you will, it will be a fine thing for your mother.
11. While I was young I lived upon my mother’s milk, as I could not eat grass.
12. During this time the mother began to cry.
13. Think it over, talk to your mother at dinner, and then let me know what you wish.
14. As soon as I was old enough to eat grass my mother used to go out to work in the daytime, and come back in the evening.

List 51

1. I wondered how we should get on together.
2. I enjoyed these rides very much in the clear cold air.
3. John said, “Yes, sir,” and was on my back in a minute.
4. In a minute we had left John far behind.

List 52

1. “All right,” he said, “I will soon be ready.”
2. All right, sir, I’ll do my best, and I pray the dear young lady may open her eyes soon.
3. “No,” said Smith, “that will be all right till we get home.”
4. I will be nineteen next May, sir.

List 53

1. The medicine did well and sent me off to sleep, and in the morning I felt much better.
2. “My poor Beauty,” he said one day.
3. How troubled their mother was, poor thing!
4. We stood about fifteen and a half hands high.
5. “He is fourteen and a half,” said John.
6. He said he should stay half an hour to see how the medicine worked.
7. There was no answer, but I heard a crash of something falling.
8. Now, week after week, month after month, and no doubt year after year, I must stand up night and day.
9. Of course he listened to what the man said, and so I was sold again.
10. “I don’t often speak of myself,” said John.
11. Joe’s father would often come in and give a little help, as he understood the work.
12. My master, too, often came to see me.
13. I often thought of John’s words when I came to know more of the world.
14. I was very wild, no doubt, and gave them a lot of trouble.

List 54

1. Had the horses been able to see, they would have kept further from the edge.
2. He must have fallen with great force.
3. It’s not for me to say who has been trying to take away James’ character.
4. She gave her work when she was able to do it.
5. He wants a man who will be able to step into his place.
6. I saw James coming through the smoke, and he was not able to speak.
7. He had given animals knowledge which was much more perfect in its way.
8. The wheels went too near the edge, and the cart was overturned into the water.
9. By the time we got to the bridge it was very nearly dark.
10. When my feet touched the first part of the bridge I was sure there was something wrong.
11. He might possibly be sentenced to two or three months in prison.

List 55

1. You see, I have been around horses ever since I was twelve years old.
2. I felt hungry, for I had not eaten since the early morning.
3. Many a good shake I know I must have given him, especially at the first.
4. He spoke as kindly to us as he did to his little children.
5. “What!” said I, “you threw the children off?”
6. I am the best friend those children have!
7. Besides, those children are under my charge when they are riding.
8. The other children had ridden me about for nearly two hours, and then the boys thought it was their turn.
9. It means to teach a horse to carry on his back a man, woman or child.
10. “To the right!” cried the woman, pointing with her hand.
11. There was a woman sitting on the ground with the lady’s head in her lap.

List 56

1. “I would not sell that horse for any money,” he said.
2. He put some money into Smith’s hand and bid him goodbye.
3. As we came near he made a sign to speak.
4. He was a builder who had often been to the park on business.
5. At first no one could guess how the fire had been caused.
6. I found a bitter feeling toward men rise up in my mind that I never had before.
7. Toward the end of the second week he told me that he thought the boy would turn out well.
8. I remember he was riding me toward home one morning when we saw a powerful man driving toward us.
9. Two of the boys were older, and there were several little ones.
10. Several men came to catch me.

List 57

1. “No, no, John,” said the doctor, “I hope not.”
2. When we came to the hill the doctor drew me up.
3. The doctor said if we had been a little longer it would have been too late.
4. The horse that was put into it was not tied up, but left loose, to do as he liked.
5. Mr. Bond, the doctor, came every day.

List 58

1. I wish you to pay attention to what I am going to say to you.
2. We had a regular fight, and I cared for nothing he could do if only I could get him off.
3. He just caught sight of the flying figure, now far away on the road.
4. For about a mile and a half, the road ran straight, then bent to the right.
5. “Put yourself a bit straight,” said John.