Chapter 1 of Mr. Fortune's Practice 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 I
Chapter 1 of Mr. Fortune's Practice is here in full — 415 sentences across 83 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“And what do you say?” “I say, nothing doing. He had no medical history. There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation. That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid.
Chapter 1 of Mr. Fortune's Practice 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.
natural bases containing nitrogen found in plants
From this reading “That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid.”
past form of “die” — pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
From this reading “There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.”
an act that fails
From this reading “There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.”
the aggregate of past events
From this reading “He had no medical history.”
relating to the study or practice of medicine
From this reading “He had no medical history.”
the physiological state produced by a poison or other toxic substance
From this reading “That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid.”
marked by correspondence or resemblance
From this reading “That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid.”
killing by depriving of oxygen
From this reading “There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.”
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.
inability of the heart to pump enough blood to sustain normal bodily functions
In this reading “There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.”
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 That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid.
natural bases containing nitrogen found in plants
From this reading That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading “And what do you say?”
showing who or what does the action
From this reading That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid.
past form of “die” — pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
From this reading There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.
used to form questions and negatives, and to give emphasis
From this reading “And what do you say?”
-ing form of “do” — engage in
From this reading “I say, nothing doing.
an act that fails
From this reading There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading He had no medical history.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He had no medical history.
the locus of feelings and intuitions
From this reading There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.
the aggregate of past events
From this reading He had no medical history.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “I say, nothing doing.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.
a vaguely specified concern
From this reading There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.
thing or person that acts to produce a particular effect or achieve an end
From this reading That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid.
relating to the study or practice of medicine
From this reading He had no medical history.
not any; not one
From this reading He had no medical history.
not one thing; not anything
From this reading “I say, nothing doing.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid.
the physiological state produced by a poison or other toxic substance
From this reading That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid.
express in words
From this reading “And what do you say?”
marked by correspondence or resemblance
From this reading That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid.
killing by depriving of oxygen
From this reading There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading That means poisoning by aconitine or a similar alkaloid.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading “And what do you say?”
in the company of; together with
From this reading There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.
but in spite of that
From this reading There was nothing the matter with the man, yet he died of heart failure and suffocation.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “And what do you say?”
Chapter 1 of Mr. Fortune's Practice by H. C. (Henry Christopher) Bailey 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 1 holds 415 sentences of Mr. Fortune's Practice, unabridged, divided into 83 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Mr. Fortune's Practice by H. C. (Henry Christopher) Bailey 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 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 Mr. Fortune's Practice by H. C. (Henry Christopher) Bailey on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5015 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #60096 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #60096, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 417 minutes of reading across 1003 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Mr. Fortune's Practice section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 12 chapters of Mr. Fortune's Practice 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 Mr. Fortune's Practice, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
