Chapter 1 of Dick's retriever is here in full — 107 sentences across 22 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Dick's retriever is here in full — 107 sentences across 22 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Author of "Tim and Jim," "A Reformatory Boy," &c. &c. THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK. IT was a wild, dark night. The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.
Chapter 1 of Dick's retriever is here in full — 107 sentences across 22 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/21 · 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.
processing that involves blowing a gas
From this reading “The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.”
the capital of Scotland; located in the Lothian Region on the south side of the Firth of Forth
From this reading “THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.”
a severe tropical cyclone usually with heavy rains and winds moving at 63-136 knots (12 on the Beaufort scale)
From this reading “The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.”
small in range or scope
From this reading “THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.”
English admiral who defeated the French fleets of Napoleon but was mortally wounded at Trafalgar (1758-1805)
From this reading “THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.”
correctional institution for the detention and discipline and training of young or first offenders
From this reading “Author of "Tim and Jim," "A Reformatory Boy," &c.”
plural of “son” — a male human offspring
From this reading “THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.”
plural of “torrent” — a heavy rain
From this reading “The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.”
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 this reading “The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.”
In this reading “IT was a wild, dark night.”
In this reading “The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.”
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 Author of "Tim and Jim," "A Reformatory Boy," &c.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Author of "Tim and Jim," "A Reformatory Boy," &c.
writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay)
From this reading Author of "Tim and Jim," "A Reformatory Boy," &c.
processing that involves blowing a gas
From this reading The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.
a youthful male person
From this reading Author of "Tim and Jim," "A Reformatory Boy," &c.
a degree on the centigrade scale of temperature
From this reading Author of "Tim and Jim," "A Reformatory Boy," &c.
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.
absence of light or illumination
From this reading IT was a wild, dark night.
being or moving lower in position or less in some value
From this reading The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.
the capital of Scotland; located in the Lothian Region on the south side of the Firth of Forth
From this reading THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.
a severe tropical cyclone usually with heavy rains and winds moving at 63-136 knots (12 on the Beaufort scale)
From this reading The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading IT was a wild, dark night.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Author of "Tim and Jim," "A Reformatory Boy," &c.
small in range or scope
From this reading THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.
the capital and largest city of England; located on the Thames in southeastern England; financial and industrial and cultural center
From this reading THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.
English admiral who defeated the French fleets of Napoleon but was mortally wounded at Trafalgar (1758-1805)
From this reading THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.
not of long duration; having just (or relatively recently) come into being or been made or acquired or discovered
From this reading THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading IT was a wild, dark night.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Author of "Tim and Jim," "A Reformatory Boy," &c.
being complete of its kind and without defect or blemish
From this reading The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.
water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere
From this reading The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.
correctional institution for the detention and discipline and training of young or first offenders
From this reading Author of "Tim and Jim," "A Reformatory Boy," &c.
plural of “son” — a male human offspring
From this reading THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.
United States clockmaker who introduced mass production (1785-1859)
From this reading THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Author of "Tim and Jim," "A Reformatory Boy," &c.
plural of “torrent” — a heavy rain
From this reading The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading IT was a wild, dark night.
marked by extreme lack of restraint or control
From this reading IT was a wild, dark night.
air moving (sometimes with considerable force) from an area of high pressure to an area of low pressure
From this reading The rain was coming down in torrents, the wind blowing a perfect hurricane.
the English royal house (a branch of the Plantagenet line) that reigned from 1461 to 1485; its emblem was a white rose
From this reading THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON, EDINBURGH, AND NEW YORK.
Chapter 1 of Dick's retriever by E. M. Stooke holds 107 sentences, grouped into 22 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 107 sentences of Dick's retriever, unabridged, divided into 22 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Dick's retriever by E. M. Stooke exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 107 sentences, grouped into 22 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 22 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 22 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 Dick's retriever by E. M. Stooke on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 654 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #72111 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #72111, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 54 minutes of reading across 131 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Dick's retriever section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 8 chapters of Dick's retriever 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 Dick's retriever, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
