Chapter 16 of Man and Wife 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 XVI
Chapter 16 of Man and Wife is here in full — 409 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
The woman shook her head. “What struck you dumb?” The woman wrote on her slate:--“A blow.” “Who gave you the blow?” She shook her head.
Chapter 16 of Man and Wife 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.
exhale hard
From this reading “The woman wrote on her slate:--“A blow.””
slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
From this reading ““What struck you dumb?””
inflected form of “give” — cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading ““Who gave you the blow?””
a disassembled barrel; the parts packed for storage or shipment
From this reading “The woman shook her head.”
(formerly) a writing tablet made of slate
From this reading “The woman wrote on her slate:--“A blow.””
(used in combination) affected by something overwhelming
From this reading ““What struck you dumb?””
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading “The woman shook her head.”
inflected form of “write” — produce a literary work
From this reading “The woman wrote on her slate:--“A blow.””
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 woman wrote on her slate:--“A blow.”
exhale hard
From this reading The woman wrote on her slate:--“A blow.”
slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity
From this reading “What struck you dumb?”
inflected form of “give” — cause to have, in the abstract sense or physical sense
From this reading “Who gave you the blow?”
the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading The woman shook her head.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading The woman shook her head.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading The woman wrote on her slate:--“A blow.”
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She shook her head.
a disassembled barrel; the parts packed for storage or shipment
From this reading The woman shook her head.
(formerly) a writing tablet made of slate
From this reading The woman wrote on her slate:--“A blow.”
(used in combination) affected by something overwhelming
From this reading “What struck you dumb?”
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The woman shook her head.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading “What struck you dumb?”
which person or people
From this reading “Who gave you the blow?”
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading The woman shook her head.
inflected form of “write” — produce a literary work
From this reading The woman wrote on her slate:--“A blow.”
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “What struck you dumb?”
Chapter 16 of Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins holds 409 sentences, grouped into 82 reading sections of at most 5 sentences. The text is the public-domain source, 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 16 holds 409 sentences of Man and Wife, unabridged, divided into 82 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 16 of Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins exactly as it stands in the public-domain 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 16 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 Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 16495 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #1586 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #1586, a public-domain edition. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 3299 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Man and Wife section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of Man and Wife 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 Man and Wife, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
