Chapter 10 of Out of the blue is here in full — 312 sentences across 63 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter X
Chapter 10 of Out of the blue is here in full — 312 sentences across 63 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
He had been given forty-eight hours! When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head. The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window. In an opposite corner the two hired men snored. Perhaps to-morrow something would happen.
Chapter 10 of Out of the blue is here in full — 312 sentences across 63 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/62 · 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.
plural of “beam” — a signal transmitted along a narrow path; guides airplane pilots in darkness or bad weather
From this reading “When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.”
a long trough for feeding cattle
From this reading “When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.”
past form of “drift” — be in motion due to some air or water current
From this reading “The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.”
(of time) having passed or slipped by
From this reading “When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.”
small air-breathing arthropod
From this reading “The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.”
plural of “noise” — sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)
From this reading “The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.”
possessive form of “river” — a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek)
being four more than twenty
From this reading “When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.”
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 “He had been given forty-eight hours!”
In this reading “The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.”
In this reading “In an opposite corner the two hired men snored.”
In this reading “In an opposite corner the two hired men snored.”
keep or lay aside for future use
In this reading “When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.”
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.
higher than, or over, something
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
plural of “beam” — a signal transmitted along a narrow path; guides airplane pilots in darkness or bad weather
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading He had been given forty-eight hours!
a long trough for feeding cattle
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
a place off to the side of an area
From this reading In an opposite corner the two hired men snored.
lacking in light; not bright or harsh
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
past form of “drift” — be in motion due to some air or water current
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
(of time) having passed or slipped by
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
continuing forever or indefinitely
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
being eight more than forty
From this reading He had been given forty-eight hours!
acknowledged as a supposition
From this reading He had been given forty-eight hours!
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading He had been given forty-eight hours!
come to pass
From this reading Perhaps to-morrow something would happen.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He had been given forty-eight hours!
the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
having services engaged for a fee
From this reading In an opposite corner the two hired men snored.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
a period of time assigned for work
From this reading He had been given forty-eight hours!
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
small air-breathing arthropod
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
put into a certain place or abstract location
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
the force of workers available
From this reading In an opposite corner the two hired men snored.
the time after sunset and before sunrise while it is dark outside
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
plural of “noise” — sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
To move from a closed position.
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
being directly across from each other; facing
From this reading In an opposite corner the two hired men snored.
by chance
From this reading Perhaps to-morrow something would happen.
possessive form of “river” — a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek)
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
a protective covering that covers or forms the top of a building
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading In an opposite corner the two hired men snored.
a thing, without saying which
From this reading Perhaps to-morrow something would happen.
(used of eyes) open and fixed as if in fear or wonder
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
a soft grey malleable metallic element that resembles tin but discolors on exposure to air; it is highly toxic and is used in rodent and insect poisons; occurs in zinc blende and some iron ores
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Perhaps to-morrow something would happen.
being four more than twenty
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one or a numeral representing this number
From this reading In an opposite corner the two hired men snored.
plural of “voice” — the distinctive quality or pitch or condition of a person's speech
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
at the time that
From this reading When twenty-four of them had elapsed, Rock lay in his bunk at the TL, staring at roof beams dim above his head.
speaking softly without vibration of the vocal cords
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
a framework of wood or metal that contains a glass windowpane and is built into a wall or roof to admit light or air
From this reading The small noises of the night, insect voices, and the river’s eternal whisper drifted through an open window.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading Perhaps to-morrow something would happen.
Chapter 10 of Out of the blue by Bertrand W. Sinclair holds 312 sentences, grouped into 63 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 10 holds 312 sentences of Out of the blue, unabridged, divided into 63 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 10 of Out of the blue by Bertrand W. Sinclair exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 312 sentences, grouped into 63 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 63 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 63 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 10 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 Out of the blue by Bertrand W. Sinclair on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 4460 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #73542 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #73542, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 371 minutes of reading across 892 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Out of the blue section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 16 chapters of Out of the blue 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 Out of the blue, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
