Chapter 5 of The sea mystery is here in full — 408 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of The sea mystery is here in full — 408 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
“Yes, I can handle it all right.” The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town. At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind. Daw hailed a youth who was polishing the brasswork of one of the “charries.” “Your father about, John?”
Chapter 5 of The sea mystery is here in full — 408 sentences across 82 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/81 · 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.
plural of “car” — a motor vehicle with four wheels; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine
From this reading “At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.”
common black-and-grey Eurasian bird noted for thievery
From this reading “Daw hailed a youth who was polishing the brasswork of one of the “charries.””
the act of forming or establishing something
From this reading “The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.”
an outbuilding (or part of a building) for housing automobiles
From this reading “The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.”
past form of “hail” — praise vociferously
From this reading “Daw hailed a youth who was polishing the brasswork of one of the “charries.””
plural of “lorry” — a large low horse-drawn wagon without sides
From this reading “At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.”
the work of making something smooth and shiny by rubbing or waxing it
From this reading “Daw hailed a youth who was polishing the brasswork of one of the “charries.””
in a surprising manner
From this reading “The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.”
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 Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.”
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 The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading “Your father about, John?”
(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 “Yes, I can handle it all right.”
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
at or toward the back of something
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Daw hailed a youth who was polishing the brasswork of one of the “charries.”
to be able to, or to be allowed to
From this reading “Yes, I can handle it all right.”
plural of “car” — a motor vehicle with four wheels; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Daw hailed a youth who was polishing the brasswork of one of the “charries.”
common black-and-grey Eurasian bird noted for thievery
From this reading Daw hailed a youth who was polishing the brasswork of one of the “charries.”
the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
the act of forming or establishing something
From this reading The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.
a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading “Your father about, John?”
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.
an outbuilding (or part of a building) for housing automobiles
From this reading The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.
past form of “hail” — praise vociferously
From this reading Daw hailed a youth who was polishing the brasswork of one of the “charries.”
be in charge of, act on, or dispose of
From this reading “Yes, I can handle it all right.”
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading “Yes, I can handle it all right.”
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading “Yes, I can handle it all right.”
a room or building equipped with one or more toilets
From this reading “Your father about, John?”
above average in size or number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.
the superlative of “little” that can be used with mass nouns and is usually preceded by “the”; a quantifier meaning smallest in amount or extent or degree
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
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 At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
plural of “lorry” — a large low horse-drawn wagon without sides
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
less than normal in degree or intensity or amount
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Daw hailed a youth who was polishing the brasswork of one of the “charries.”
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Daw hailed a youth who was polishing the brasswork of one of the “charries.”
the work of making something smooth and shiny by rubbing or waxing it
From this reading Daw hailed a youth who was polishing the brasswork of one of the “charries.”
precisely, exactly
From this reading “Yes, I can handle it all right.”
get rid of
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
limited or below average in number or quantity or magnitude or extent
From this reading The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.
for that reason; with the result that
From this reading The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.
Maintained an upright posture.
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
in a surprising manner
From this reading The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.
in or at that place or location
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city
From this reading The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading The Makepeace garage was a surprisingly large establishment for so small a town.
the past form of “be” used with you, we, they, or a plural noun
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
which person or people
From this reading Daw hailed a youth who was polishing the brasswork of one of the “charries.”
a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride
From this reading At least a dozen cars stood in the long low shed, and there were lorries and char-à-bancs in the yard behind.
an affirmative
From this reading “Yes, I can handle it all right.”
belonging to the person or people being spoken to
From this reading “Your father about, John?”
a young person (especially a young man or boy)
From this reading Daw hailed a youth who was polishing the brasswork of one of the “charries.”
Chapter 5 of The sea mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts holds 408 sentences, grouped into 82 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 5 holds 408 sentences of The sea mystery, unabridged, divided into 82 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of The sea mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 408 sentences, grouped into 82 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 82 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 82 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 5 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 sea mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5652 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #72771 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #72771, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 471 minutes of reading across 1131 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The sea mystery section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 14 chapters of The sea mystery 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 sea mystery, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
