Chapter 5 of Dancers in the Dark is here in full — 409 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of Dancers in the Dark is here in full — 409 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight. We chose some vacant lot.” “We weren’t fighting,” said Grant curtly. Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment. The air tingled with omission.
Chapter 5 of Dancers in the Dark is here in full — 409 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/81 · 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.
inflected form of “choose” — pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading “We chose some vacant lot.””
a soft partly suppressed laugh
From this reading ““In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.”
in a curt, abrupt and discourteous manner
From this reading ““We weren’t fighting,” said Grant curtly.”
a mistake resulting from neglect
From this reading “The air tingled with omission.”
strong and sharp
From this reading “Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.”
a compound formed by replacing hydrogen in an acid by a metal (or a radical that acts like a metal)
From this reading “Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.”
shining with brilliant points of light like stars
From this reading “Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.”
void of intelligence or thought
From this reading “We chose some vacant lot.””
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.
a lot on which there are no permanent buildings
In this reading “We chose some vacant lot.””
In this reading “Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.”
In this reading “Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.”
rest on for support
In this reading “Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.”
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 “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
a mixture of gases (especially oxygen) required for breathing; the stuff that the wind consists of
From this reading The air tingled with omission.
past form of “allow” — make it possible through a specific action or lack of action for something to happen
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
of the color intermediate between green and violet; having a color similar to that of a clear unclouded sky
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
inflected form of “choose” — pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
From this reading We chose some vacant lot.”
a soft partly suppressed laugh
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
in a curt, abrupt and discourteous manner
From this reading “We weren’t fighting,” said Grant curtly.
an artistic form of nonverbal communication
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
time for Earth to make a complete rotation on its axis
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
opinion or judgment
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
the act of fighting; any contest or struggle
From this reading “We weren’t fighting,” said Grant curtly.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
let have
From this reading “We weren’t fighting,” said Grant curtly.
of an achromatic color of any lightness intermediate between the extremes of white and black
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
the emotion of great happiness
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
(often followed by “of”) a large number or amount or extent
From this reading We chose some vacant lot.”
a particular point in time
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
a form of address for a married woman
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
a mistake resulting from neglect
From this reading The air tingled with omission.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
select carefully from a group
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
strong and sharp
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
past form of “remark” — make mention of
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
not move; be in a resting position
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “We weren’t fighting,” said Grant curtly.
a compound formed by replacing hydrogen in an acid by a metal (or a radical that acts like a metal)
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
a division of an ocean or a large body of salt water partially enclosed by land
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading We chose some vacant lot.”
shining with brilliant points of light like stars
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The air tingled with omission.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The air tingled with omission.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
void of intelligence or thought
From this reading We chose some vacant lot.”
binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent
From this reading Mrs. Grey allowed her sea blue eyes, cold and sparkling as salt water, to rest on Joy for one pungent moment.
the speaker together with one or more other people
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “We weren’t fighting,” said Grant curtly.
used to introduce a clause giving more about a thing just mentioned
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
in the company of; together with
From this reading “In my day,” he remarked with a chuckle, “we didn’t choose a club-house dance in which to pick a fight.
Chapter 5 of Dancers in the Dark by Dorothy Speare holds 409 sentences, grouped into 82 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 5 holds 409 sentences of Dancers in the Dark, unabridged, divided into 82 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of Dancers in the Dark by Dorothy Speare exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 409 sentences, grouped into 82 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 82 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 82 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 5 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 Dancers in the Dark by Dorothy Speare on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5800 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #60176 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #60176, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 483 minutes of reading across 1160 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Dancers in the Dark section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 14 chapters of Dancers in the Dark 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 Dancers in the Dark, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
