Chapter 21 of In the Depths of the Dark Continent is here in full — 83 sentences across 17 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XXI
Chapter 21 of In the Depths of the Dark Continent is here in full — 83 sentences across 17 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
DIVERSE MATTERS. The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet. The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so: "Save me from that man! He is a villain, and I hate him."
Chapter 21 of In the Depths of the Dark Continent is here in full — 83 sentences across 17 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/16 · 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.
without seeing or looking
From this reading “The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.”
in a state of mental numbness especially as resulting from shock
From this reading “The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.”
many and different
From this reading “DIVERSE MATTERS.”
inflected form of “fly” — travel through the air; be airborne
From this reading “The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so:”
(of e.g. celestial bodies) above the horizon
From this reading “The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.”
past form of “stagger” — walk as if unable to control one's movements
From this reading “The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.”
of or pertaining to or resembling a utopia
From this reading “The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.”
a wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately
From this reading “He is a villain, and I hate him."”
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 blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.”
In this reading “The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so:”
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 blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
later than; following
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so:
without seeing or looking
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
exhale hard
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
in a state of mental numbness especially as resulting from shock
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so:
many and different
From this reading DIVERSE MATTERS.
an Indo-European language belonging to the West Germanic branch; the official language of Britain and the United States and most of the commonwealth countries
From this reading The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so:
free from favoritism or self-interest or bias or deception; conforming with established standards or rules
From this reading The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so:
plural of “foot” — the part of the leg of a human being below the ankle joint
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
a boy or man
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
a quantifier that can be used with count nouns and is often preceded by “a”; a small but indefinite number
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
inflected form of “fly” — travel through the air; be airborne
From this reading The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so:
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading "Save me from that man!
a young female
From this reading The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so:
acknowledged as a supposition
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
the emotion of intense dislike; a feeling of dislike so strong that it demands action
From this reading He is a villain, and I hate him."
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
of comparatively great physical weight or density
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading He is a villain, and I hate him."
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading He is a villain, and I hate him."
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so:
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading He is a villain, and I hate him."
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading "Save me from that man!
plural of “matter” — a vaguely specified concern
From this reading DIVERSE MATTERS.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading "Save me from that man!
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
with little or no delay
From this reading The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so:
the activity of protecting someone or something
From this reading The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so:
(of e.g. celestial bodies) above the horizon
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
except for; apart from
From this reading "Save me from that man!
a word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations
From this reading The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so:
plural of “second” — 1/60 of a minute; the basic unit of time adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading The girl had promptly flown to Van for protection, saying in fair English as he did so:
past form of “stagger” — walk as if unable to control one's movements
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
of the kind already mentioned
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
of or pertaining to or resembling a utopia
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
any creative group active in the innovation and application of new concepts and techniques in a given field (especially in the arts)
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
a wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately
From this reading He is a villain, and I hate him."
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The blow Van had given the Utopian was such a heavy one that the fellow was dazed for a few seconds, and staggered about blindly after he had risen to his feet.
Chapter 21 of In the Depths of the Dark Continent by Cornelius Shea holds 83 sentences, grouped into 17 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 21 holds 83 sentences of In the Depths of the Dark Continent, unabridged, divided into 17 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 21 of In the Depths of the Dark Continent by Cornelius Shea exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 83 sentences, grouped into 17 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 17 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 17 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 21 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 In the Depths of the Dark Continent by Cornelius Shea on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1905 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #43353 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #43353, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 158 minutes of reading across 381 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through In the Depths of the Dark Continent section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 24 chapters of In the Depths of the Dark Continent 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 In the Depths of the Dark Continent, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
