Chapter 1 of The Dead Alive is here in full — 90 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Dead Alive is here in full — 90 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
THE SICK MAN. “HEART all right,” said the doctor. “Lungs all right. No organic disease that I can discover. Philip Lefrank, don’t alarm yourself.
Chapter 1 of The Dead Alive is here in full — 90 sentences across 18 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/18 · 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.
fear resulting from the awareness of danger
From this reading “Philip Lefrank, don’t alarm yourself.”
discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of
From this reading “No organic disease that I can discover.”
an impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning
From this reading “No organic disease that I can discover.”
a licensed medical practitioner
From this reading ““HEART all right,” said the doctor.”
plural of “lung” — either of two saclike respiratory organs in the chest of vertebrates; serves to remove carbon dioxide and provide oxygen to the blood
From this reading ““Lungs all right.”
relating or belonging to the class of chemical compounds having a carbon basis
From this reading “No organic disease that I can discover.”
Englishman and husband of Elizabeth II (born 1921)
From this reading “Philip Lefrank, don’t alarm yourself.”
affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function
From this reading “THE SICK MAN.”
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.
fear resulting from the awareness of danger
From this reading Philip Lefrank, don’t alarm yourself.
(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 “HEART all right,” said the doctor.
to be able to, or to be allowed to
From this reading No organic disease that I can discover.
discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of
From this reading No organic disease that I can discover.
an impairment of health or a condition of abnormal functioning
From this reading No organic disease that I can discover.
a licensed medical practitioner
From this reading “HEART all right,” said the doctor.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Philip Lefrank, don’t alarm yourself.
the locus of feelings and intuitions
From this reading “HEART all right,” said the doctor.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading No organic disease that I can discover.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Philip Lefrank, don’t alarm yourself.
plural of “lung” — either of two saclike respiratory organs in the chest of vertebrates; serves to remove carbon dioxide and provide oxygen to the blood
From this reading “Lungs all right.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading THE SICK MAN.
not any; not one
From this reading No organic disease that I can discover.
relating or belonging to the class of chemical compounds having a carbon basis
From this reading No organic disease that I can discover.
Englishman and husband of Elizabeth II (born 1921)
From this reading Philip Lefrank, don’t alarm yourself.
precisely, exactly
From this reading “HEART all right,” said the doctor.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading “HEART all right,” said the doctor.
affected by an impairment of normal physical or mental function
From this reading THE SICK MAN.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading No organic disease that I can discover.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading THE SICK MAN.
used when the person spoken to is also the object of the action
From this reading Philip Lefrank, don’t alarm yourself.
Chapter 1 of The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins holds 90 sentences, grouped into 18 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 90 sentences of The Dead Alive, unabridged, divided into 18 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 90 sentences, grouped into 18 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 18 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 18 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 The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1539 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #7891 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #7891, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 128 minutes of reading across 308 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Dead Alive section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 12 chapters of The Dead Alive 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 Dead Alive, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
