Chapter 20 of The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea is here in full — 144 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter XX
Chapter 20 of The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea is here in full — 144 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily. As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves. He watched them with dull fascination, pointing. Then he began to whimper peevishly. He was tired, he was cold.
Chapter 20 of The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea is here in full — 144 sentences across 29 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/28 · 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.
the state of being intensely interested (as by awe or terror)
From this reading “He watched them with dull fascination, pointing.”
-ing form of “point” — indicate a place, direction, person, or thing; either spatially or figuratively
From this reading “He watched them with dull fascination, pointing.”
free from harm or evil
From this reading “A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.”
a small wave on the surface of a liquid
From this reading “As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves.”
(of winds) coming from the sea toward the land
From this reading “A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.”
past form of “surge” — rise and move, as in waves or billows
From this reading “As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves.”
walking with your feet in shallow water
From this reading “A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.”
cry weakly or softly
From this reading “Then he began to whimper peevishly.”
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 A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves.
inflected form of “begin” — take the first step or steps in carrying out an action
From this reading Then he began to whimper peevishly.
being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.
the entire physical structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being)
From this reading As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves.
an inhabitant of a border area (especially the border between Scotland and England)
From this reading A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.
a youthful male person
From this reading A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.
having a low or inadequate temperature or feeling a sensation of coldness or having been made cold by e.g. ice or refrigeration
From this reading He was tired, he was cold.
in a giddy light-headed manner
From this reading A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.
lacking in liveliness or animation
From this reading He watched them with dull fascination, pointing.
the state of being intensely interested (as by awe or terror)
From this reading He watched them with dull fascination, pointing.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.
primarily temporal sense; being or indicating a relatively great or greater than average duration or passage of time or a duration as specified
From this reading As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves.
produced by a manufacturing process
From this reading As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves.
in a peevish manner
From this reading Then he began to whimper peevishly.
-ing form of “point” — indicate a place, direction, person, or thing; either spatially or figuratively
From this reading He watched them with dull fascination, pointing.
free from harm or evil
From this reading A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.
a small wave on the surface of a liquid
From this reading As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves.
(of winds) coming from the sea toward the land
From this reading A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.
past form of “surge” — rise and move, as in waves or billows
From this reading As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.
the people or things already mentioned, as the object
From this reading He watched them with dull fascination, pointing.
subsequently or soon afterward (often used as sentence connectors)
From this reading Then he began to whimper peevishly.
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves.
depleted of strength or energy
From this reading He was tired, he was cold.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.
walking with your feet in shallow water
From this reading A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading A BLACK BORDERER TO THE RESCUE I A boy was wading shoreward dizzily.
past form of “watch” — look attentively
From this reading He watched them with dull fascination, pointing.
binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent
From this reading As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves.
plural of “wave” — one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water)
From this reading As he surged through the water, his body made long rippling waves.
cry weakly or softly
From this reading Then he began to whimper peevishly.
in the company of; together with
From this reading He watched them with dull fascination, pointing.
Chapter 20 of The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea by Alfred Ollivant holds 144 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 20 holds 144 sentences of The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea, unabridged, divided into 29 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 20 of The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea by Alfred Ollivant exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 144 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 20 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 Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea by Alfred Ollivant on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 8871 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #8396 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #8396, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 600 minutes of reading across 1775 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 40 chapters of The Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea 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 Gentleman: A Romance of the Sea, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
