Chapter 1 of Chain Reaction is here in full — 469 sentences across 94 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Chain Reaction is here in full — 469 sentences across 94 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce? MacPherson shuffled the cards over and over again. His hands were almost steady. "Want to place a limit on the bets?" he asked. His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
Chapter 1 of Chain Reaction is here in full — 469 sentences across 94 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/93 · 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 “bet” — the money risked on a gamble
From this reading “"Want to place a limit on the bets?" he asked.”
plural of “colleague” — an associate that one works with
From this reading “His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.”
a tie in tennis or table tennis that requires winning two successive points to win the game
From this reading “Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?”
the greatest possible degree of something
From this reading “"Want to place a limit on the bets?" he asked.”
fire iron consisting of a metal rod with a handle; used to stir a fire
From this reading “Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?”
past form of “shuffle” — walk by dragging one's feet
From this reading “MacPherson shuffled the cards over and over again.”
(law) a right or legal share of something; a financial involvement with something
From this reading “Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?”
the body of faculty and students at a university
From this reading “His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.”
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 question or at issue
In this reading “Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?”
anew
In this reading “MacPherson shuffled the cards over and over again.”
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 Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
anew
From this reading MacPherson shuffled the cards over and over again.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
(of actions or states) slightly short of or not quite accomplished; all but
From this reading His hands were almost steady.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
past form of “ask” — make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading "Want to place a limit on the bets?" he asked.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
plural of “bet” — the money risked on a gamble
From this reading "Want to place a limit on the bets?" he asked.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
one of a set of small pieces of stiff paper marked in various ways and used for playing games or for telling fortunes
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
a game played with playing cards
From this reading MacPherson shuffled the cards over and over again.
plural of “colleague” — an associate that one works with
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
a tie in tennis or table tennis that requires winning two successive points to win the game
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
operate or control a vehicle
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
all the members of a group, with none left out
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
a contest with rules to determine a winner
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading His hands were almost steady.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "Want to place a limit on the bets?" he asked.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading His hands were almost steady.
immediately past
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
past form of “laugh” — produce laughter
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
a characteristic state or mode of living
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
the greatest possible degree of something
From this reading "Want to place a limit on the bets?" he asked.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading MacPherson shuffled the cards over and over again.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
being nothing more than specified
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading "Want to place a limit on the bets?" he asked.
above and across; more than
From this reading MacPherson shuffled the cards over and over again.
a point located with respect to surface features of some region
From this reading "Want to place a limit on the bets?" he asked.
fire iron consisting of a metal rod with a handle; used to stir a fire
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
past form of “shuffle” — walk by dragging one's feet
From this reading MacPherson shuffled the cards over and over again.
(law) a right or legal share of something; a financial involvement with something
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
make steady
From this reading His hands were almost steady.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading "Want to place a limit on the bets?" he asked.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
the body of faculty and students at a university
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
feel or have a desire for; want strongly
From this reading "Want to place a limit on the bets?" he asked.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading His hands were almost steady.
which person or people
From this reading His two colleagues who had made the night drive with him from the University said nothing, but Rothman laughed.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading Would this be the last poker game--with all life at stake and every card a mere deuce?
Chapter 1 of Chain Reaction by Boyd Ellanby holds 469 sentences, grouped into 94 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 1 holds 469 sentences of Chain Reaction, unabridged, divided into 94 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Chain Reaction by Boyd Ellanby exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 469 sentences, grouped into 94 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 94 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 94 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 1 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 Chain Reaction by Boyd Ellanby on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 469 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #51255 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #51255, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 39 minutes of reading across 94 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Chain Reaction section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of Chain Reaction 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 Chain Reaction, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
