Chapter 12 of Dead Man's Land is here in full — 415 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XII
Chapter 12 of Dead Man's Land is here in full — 415 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
"No, sir; that he wasn't." "Oh, how could you be so stupid! The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon." "Well, that's right, sir." "And because you didn't see him directly, the poor creature never got the soup."
Chapter 12 of Dead Man's Land is here in full — 415 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/83 · 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.
a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
From this reading “"And because you didn't see him directly, the poor creature never got the soup."”
be contingent upon (something that is elided)
From this reading “The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."”
without deviation
From this reading “"And because you didn't see him directly, the poor creature never got the soup."”
a licensed medical practitioner
From this reading “The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."”
go or come after and bring or take back
From this reading “The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."”
liquid food especially of meat or fish or vegetable stock often containing pieces of solid food
From this reading “The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."”
lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity
From this reading “"Oh, how could you be so stupid!”
(of persons) worthy of trust or confidence
From this reading “The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."”
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 The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading "And because you didn't see him directly, the poor creature never got the soup."
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading "Oh, how could you be so stupid!
for the reason that
From this reading The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading "Oh, how could you be so stupid!
a living organism characterized by voluntary movement
From this reading "And because you didn't see him directly, the poor creature never got the soup."
be contingent upon (something that is elided)
From this reading The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "And because you didn't see him directly, the poor creature never got the soup."
without deviation
From this reading "And because you didn't see him directly, the poor creature never got the soup."
a licensed medical practitioner
From this reading The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."
go or come after and bring or take back
From this reading The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading "And because you didn't see him directly, the poor creature never got the soup."
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading "No, sir; that he wasn't."
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading "And because you didn't see him directly, the poor creature never got the soup."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Oh, how could you be so stupid!
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading "And because you didn't see him directly, the poor creature never got the soup."
not any; not one
From this reading "No, sir; that he wasn't."
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading "Oh, how could you be so stupid!
deserving or inciting pity
From this reading "And because you didn't see him directly, the poor creature never got the soup."
precisely, exactly
From this reading "Well, that's right, sir."
perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading "And because you didn't see him directly, the poor creature never got the soup."
term of address for a man
From this reading "No, sir; that he wasn't."
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading "Oh, how could you be so stupid!
liquid food especially of meat or fish or vegetable stock often containing pieces of solid food
From this reading The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."
lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity
From this reading "Oh, how could you be so stupid!
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading "No, sir; that he wasn't."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "Well, that's right, sir."
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."
the content of cognition; the main thing you are thinking about
From this reading The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."
(of persons) worthy of trust or confidence
From this reading The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."
a formal word for “on”
From this reading The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading "No, sir; that he wasn't."
(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, that's right, sir."
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading The doctor trusted you to fetch the soup because he thought you were a man he could depend upon."
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading "Oh, how could you be so stupid!
Chapter 12 of Dead Man's Land by George Manville Fenn holds 415 sentences, grouped into 83 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 12 holds 415 sentences of Dead Man's Land, unabridged, divided into 83 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 12 of Dead Man's Land by George Manville Fenn exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 415 sentences, grouped into 83 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 83 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 83 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 12 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 Dead Man's Land by George Manville Fenn on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 7360 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #23922 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #23922, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1472 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Dead Man's Land section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 18 chapters of Dead Man's Land 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 Dead Man's Land, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
