Chapter 8 of The Crack of Doom is here in full — 131 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter VIII
Chapter 8 of The Crack of Doom is here in full — 131 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE WOKING MYSTERY. She knew all. Then she was a murderess--or in sympathy with murderers. My arms fell from her. I drew back shuddering.
Chapter 8 of The Crack of Doom is here in full — 131 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/26 · 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.
weapons considered collectively
From this reading “My arms fell from her.”
United States actor (born in Ireland); father of Georgiana Emma Barrymore (1827-1862)
From this reading “I drew back shuddering.”
cause to fall by or as if by delivering a blow
From this reading “My arms fell from her.”
inflected form of “know” — be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading “She knew all.”
plural of “murderer” — a criminal who commits homicide (who performs the unlawful premeditated killing of another human being)
From this reading “Then she was a murderess--or in sympathy with murderers.”
something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained
From this reading “THE WOKING MYSTERY.”
shaking convulsively or violently
From this reading “I drew back shuddering.”
an inclination to support or be loyal to or to agree with an opinion
From this reading “Then she was a murderess--or in sympathy with murderers.”
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 “My arms fell from her.”
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 Then she was a murderess--or in sympathy with murderers.
(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 She knew all.
weapons considered collectively
From this reading My arms fell from her.
in or to or toward a former location
From this reading I drew back shuddering.
United States actor (born in Ireland); father of Georgiana Emma Barrymore (1827-1862)
From this reading I drew back shuddering.
cause to fall by or as if by delivering a blow
From this reading My arms fell from her.
showing where something starts, or who sent it
From this reading My arms fell from her.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading My arms fell from her.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I drew back shuddering.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Then she was a murderess--or in sympathy with murderers.
inflected form of “know” — be cognizant or aware of a fact or a specific piece of information; possess knowledge or information about
From this reading She knew all.
plural of “murderer” — a criminal who commits homicide (who performs the unlawful premeditated killing of another human being)
From this reading Then she was a murderess--or in sympathy with murderers.
a woman murderer
From this reading Then she was a murderess--or in sympathy with murderers.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading My arms fell from her.
something that baffles understanding and cannot be explained
From this reading THE WOKING MYSTERY.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading Then she was a murderess--or in sympathy with murderers.
a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading She knew all.
shaking convulsively or violently
From this reading I drew back shuddering.
an inclination to support or be loyal to or to agree with an opinion
From this reading Then she was a murderess--or in sympathy with murderers.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE WOKING MYSTERY.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Then she was a murderess--or in sympathy with murderers.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Then she was a murderess--or in sympathy with murderers.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Then she was a murderess--or in sympathy with murderers.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading THE WOKING MYSTERY.
Chapter 8 of The Crack of Doom by Robert Cromie holds 131 sentences, grouped into 27 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 8 holds 131 sentences of The Crack of Doom, unabridged, divided into 27 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 8 of The Crack of Doom by Robert Cromie exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 131 sentences, grouped into 27 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 27 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 27 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 8 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 The Crack of Doom by Robert Cromie on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 3212 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #26563 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #26563, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 267 minutes of reading across 643 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Crack of Doom section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 20 chapters of The Crack of Doom 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 The Crack of Doom, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
