Chapter 1 of The Primus Curse is here in full — 546 sentences across 110 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Primus Curse is here in full — 546 sentences across 110 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
_That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain. He'd felt like a mechanical man all the time. Never would have believed he could send men to their death like that. And the ship! He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
Chapter 1 of The Primus Curse is here in full — 546 sentences across 110 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/109 · 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.
aroused to impatience or anger
From this reading “_That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.”
using (or as if using) mechanisms or tools or devices
From this reading “He'd felt like a mechanical man all the time.”
possessive form of “mercury” — a heavy silvery toxic univalent and bivalent metallic element; the only metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures
From this reading “He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."”
on the negative side or lower end of a scale
From this reading “He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."”
a useful or valuable quality
From this reading “He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."”
the science of mental life
From this reading “_That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.”
a serviceman who has seen considerable active service
From this reading “_That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.”
a locally circumscribed place characterized by some distinctive features
From this reading “He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."”
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 might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."”
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 He'd felt like a mechanical man all the time.
anew
From this reading _That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.
(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 He'd felt like a mechanical man all the time.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading And the ship!
aroused to impatience or anger
From this reading _That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
the past participle of “be”
From this reading _That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.
past form of “believe” — accept as true; take to be true
From this reading Never would have believed he could send men to their death like that.
plural of “boy” — a youthful male person
From this reading _That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.
an officer holding a rank below a major but above a lieutenant
From this reading _That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
the past of “can”; used for possibility or polite requests
From this reading Never would have believed he could send men to their death like that.
the event of dying or departure from life
From this reading Never would have believed he could send men to their death like that.
all things; all of a situation
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
mat together and make felt-like
From this reading He'd felt like a mechanical man all the time.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading _That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.
consisting of one of two equivalent parts in value or quantity
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Never would have believed he could send men to their death like that.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading Never would have believed he could send men to their death like that.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He'd felt like a mechanical man all the time.
a period of time assigned for work
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading He'd felt like a mechanical man all the time.
no longer in your possession or control; unable to be found or recovered
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading He'd felt like a mechanical man all the time.
using (or as if using) mechanisms or tools or devices
From this reading He'd felt like a mechanical man all the time.
the force of workers available
From this reading Never would have believed he could send men to their death like that.
possessive form of “mercury” — a heavy silvery toxic univalent and bivalent metallic element; the only metal that is liquid at ordinary temperatures
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
used to say something is possible but not certain
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
on the negative side or lower end of a scale
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
not ever; at no time in the past or future
From this reading Never would have believed he could send men to their death like that.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
a useful or valuable quality
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
the science of mental life
From this reading _That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.
precisely, exactly
From this reading _That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.
cause to go somewhere
From this reading Never would have believed he could send men to their death like that.
transport commercially
From this reading And the ship!
a student who fails to attend classes
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
the cardinal number that is the sum of nine and one; the base of the decimal system
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading _That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading _That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.
belonging to the people or things already mentioned
From this reading Never would have believed he could send men to their death like that.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading He'd felt like a mechanical man all the time.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Never would have believed he could send men to their death like that.
a serviceman who has seen considerable active service
From this reading _That the psychology boys had been right again, annoyed the veteran captain.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
(often used as a combining form) in a good or proper or satisfactory manner or to a high standard (“good” is a nonstandard dialectal variant for “well”)
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading Never would have believed he could send men to their death like that.
a locally circumscribed place characterized by some distinctive features
From this reading He might have lost everything!_ "Well, Skipper, we'll be in Mercury's com zone in ten hours, plus or minus a half."
Chapter 1 of The Primus Curse by Bill Wesley holds 546 sentences, grouped into 110 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 546 sentences of The Primus Curse, unabridged, divided into 110 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Primus Curse by Bill Wesley exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 546 sentences, grouped into 110 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 110 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 110 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 Primus Curse by Bill Wesley on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 546 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #63707 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #63707, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 45 minutes of reading across 110 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Primus Curse section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of The Primus Curse 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 Primus Curse, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
