Chapter 1 of Rundown is here in full — 145 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of Rundown is here in full — 145 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose! The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel. The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd. The noise and the abrupt handling of his body brought him to awareness. Not that he had been asleep or unconscious.
Chapter 1 of Rundown is here in full — 145 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/29 · 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.
having knowledge of
From this reading “The noise and the abrupt handling of his body brought him to awareness.”
plural of “dime” — a United States coin worth one tenth of a dollar
From this reading “All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!”
a barrier that has parallel or crossed bars blocking a passage but admitting air
From this reading “The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.”
manual (or mechanical) carrying or moving or delivering or working with something
From this reading “The noise and the abrupt handling of his body brought him to awareness.”
plural of “panhandler” — a beggar who approaches strangers asking for money
From this reading “All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!”
a high-pitched noise resembling a human cry
From this reading “The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.”
past form of “shove” — come into rough contact with while moving
From this reading “The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.”
an electric railway operating below the surface of the ground (usually in a city)
From this reading “The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.”
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 man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.”
In this reading “All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!”
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 All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!
marked by sudden changes in subject and sharp transitions
From this reading The noise and the abrupt handling of his body brought him to awareness.
(quantifier) used with either mass or count nouns to indicate the whole number or amount of or every one of a class
From this reading All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The noise and the abrupt handling of his body brought him to awareness.
declared publicly; made widely known
From this reading The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.
accomplishment of an objective
From this reading The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.
make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!
in a state of sleep
From this reading Not that he had been asleep or unconscious.
having knowledge of
From this reading The noise and the abrupt handling of his body brought him to awareness.
the past participle of “be”
From this reading Not that he had been asleep or unconscious.
the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being)
From this reading The noise and the abrupt handling of his body brought him to awareness.
inflected form of “bring” — take something or somebody with oneself somewhere
From this reading The noise and the abrupt handling of his body brought him to awareness.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!
showing who or what does the action
From this reading The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.
a motor vehicle with four wheels; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine
From this reading The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.
cause to herd, drive, or crowd together
From this reading The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.
plural of “dime” — a United States coin worth one tenth of a dollar
From this reading All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!
being one more than seven
From this reading The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.
a barrier that has parallel or crossed bars blocking a passage but admitting air
From this reading The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!
manual (or mechanical) carrying or moving or delivering or working with something
From this reading The noise and the abrupt handling of his body brought him to awareness.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Not that he had been asleep or unconscious.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading The noise and the abrupt handling of his body brought him to awareness.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading The noise and the abrupt handling of his body brought him to awareness.
belonging to the thing or animal already mentioned
From this reading The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.
the basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites (approximately 1.094 yards)
From this reading The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.
sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound)
From this reading The noise and the abrupt handling of his body brought him to awareness.
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading Not that he had been asleep or unconscious.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!
moving to a position on a surface
From this reading The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading Not that he had been asleep or unconscious.
a multivalent nonmetallic element of the nitrogen family that occurs commonly in inorganic phosphate rocks and as organic phosphates in all living cells; is highly reactive and occurs in several allotropic forms
From this reading The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.
plural of “panhandler” — a beggar who approaches strangers asking for money
From this reading All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!
a raised horizontal surface
From this reading The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.
an anticipated outcome that is intended or that guides your planned actions
From this reading All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!
a high-pitched noise resembling a human cry
From this reading The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.
past form of “shove” — come into rough contact with while moving
From this reading The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.
unique or specific to a person or thing or category
From this reading All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!
an alloy of iron with small amounts of carbon; widely used in construction; mechanical properties can be varied over a wide range
From this reading The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.
an electric railway operating below the surface of the ground (usually in a city)
From this reading The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Not that he had been asleep or unconscious.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.
used for a person or thing that is near, or that has just been mentioned
From this reading All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The noise and the abrupt handling of his body brought him to awareness.
create by training and teaching
From this reading The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.
not conscious; lacking awareness and the capacity for sensory perception as if asleep or dead
From this reading Not that he had been asleep or unconscious.
precisely as stated
From this reading All panhandlers ask for dimes--but this one had a very special purpose!
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The man was shoved from the car onto the platform by the eight p.m. crowd.
in the company of; together with
From this reading The subway train announced its arrival with a screech of grating steel.
Chapter 1 of Rundown by Robert Lory holds 145 sentences, grouped into 29 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 145 sentences of Rundown, unabridged, divided into 29 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of Rundown by Robert Lory exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 145 sentences, grouped into 29 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 29 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 29 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 Rundown by Robert Lory on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 145 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #61387 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #61387, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 12 minutes of reading across 29 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Rundown section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of Rundown 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 Rundown, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
