Chapter 3 of Black Silence is here in full — 462 sentences across 93 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter III
Chapter 3 of Black Silence is here in full — 462 sentences across 93 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Arrogance! He felt a bristling of hostility. "You've been through the plague?" The woman nodded, her flame-colored hair glinting golden in the light. The director thrust himself to the fore.
Chapter 3 of Black Silence is here in full — 462 sentences across 93 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/92 · 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.
overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors
From this reading “Arrogance!”
-ing form of “bristle” — be in a state of movement or action
From this reading “He felt a bristling of hostility.”
someone who controls resources and expenditures
From this reading “The director thrust himself to the fore.”
front part of a vessel or aircraft
From this reading “The director thrust himself to the fore.”
having brief brilliant points or flashes of light
From this reading “The woman nodded, her flame-colored hair glinting golden in the light.”
a hostile (very unfriendly) disposition
From this reading “He felt a bristling of hostility.”
cause to suffer a blight
From this reading “"You've been through the plague?"”
push forcefully
From this reading “The director thrust himself to the fore.”
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.
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 He felt a bristling of hostility.
overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors
From this reading Arrogance!
the past participle of “be”
From this reading "You've been through the plague?"
-ing form of “bristle” — be in a state of movement or action
From this reading He felt a bristling of hostility.
someone who controls resources and expenditures
From this reading The director thrust himself to the fore.
mat together and make felt-like
From this reading He felt a bristling of hostility.
having the brilliant orange-red color of flames
From this reading The woman nodded, her flame-colored hair glinting golden in the light.
front part of a vessel or aircraft
From this reading The director thrust himself to the fore.
having brief brilliant points or flashes of light
From this reading The woman nodded, her flame-colored hair glinting golden in the light.
having the deep slightly brownish color of gold
From this reading The woman nodded, her flame-colored hair glinting golden in the light.
a covering for the body (or parts of it) consisting of a dense growth of threadlike structures (as on the human head); helps to prevent heat loss
From this reading The woman nodded, her flame-colored hair glinting golden in the light.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He felt a bristling of hostility.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading The woman nodded, her flame-colored hair glinting golden in the light.
used when the man or boy doing the action is also its object
From this reading The director thrust himself to the fore.
a hostile (very unfriendly) disposition
From this reading He felt a bristling of hostility.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The woman nodded, her flame-colored hair glinting golden in the light.
of comparatively little physical weight or density
From this reading The woman nodded, her flame-colored hair glinting golden in the light.
inflected form of “nod” — express or signify by nodding
From this reading The woman nodded, her flame-colored hair glinting golden in the light.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading He felt a bristling of hostility.
cause to suffer a blight
From this reading "You've been through the plague?"
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading "You've been through the plague?"
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading "You've been through the plague?"
push forcefully
From this reading The director thrust himself to the fore.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The director thrust himself to the fore.
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading The woman nodded, her flame-colored hair glinting golden in the light.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "You've been through the plague?"
Chapter 3 of Black Silence by Robert Emmett McDowell holds 462 sentences, grouped into 93 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 3 holds 462 sentences of Black Silence, unabridged, divided into 93 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 3 of Black Silence by Robert Emmett McDowell exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 462 sentences, grouped into 93 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 93 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 93 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 3 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 Black Silence by Robert Emmett McDowell on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2277 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #64326 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #64326, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 189 minutes of reading across 456 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Black Silence section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 5 chapters of Black Silence 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 Black Silence, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
