Chapter 1 of There Is a Reaper ... is here in full — 135 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of There Is a Reaper ... is here in full — 135 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
There Is A Reaper ... Doctors had given him just one month to live. A month to wonder, what comes afterward? There was one way to find out--ask a dead man! The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
Chapter 1 of There Is a Reaper ... is here in full — 135 sentences across 27 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/27 · 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.
happening at a time subsequent to a reference time
From this reading “A month to wonder, what comes afterward?”
a deep yellow color
From this reading “The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.”
having its true character concealed with the intent of misleading
From this reading “The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.”
plural of “doctor” — a licensed medical practitioner
From this reading “Doctors had given him just one month to live.”
inflected form of “drink” — take in liquids
From this reading “The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.”
an alcoholic beverage that is distilled rather than fermented
From this reading “The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.”
spoil as if by poison
From this reading “The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.”
someone who helps to gather the harvest
From this reading “There Is A Reaper ...”
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 “There was one way to find out--ask a dead 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.
used before a singular noun to mean one of a group, when it is not a particular one
From this reading There Is A Reaper ...
happening at a time subsequent to a reference time
From this reading A month to wonder, what comes afterward?
a deep yellow color
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
make a request or demand for something to somebody
From this reading There was one way to find out--ask a dead man!
an orange of low brightness and saturation
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
plural of “come” — the thick white fluid containing spermatozoa that is ejaculated by the male genital tract
From this reading A month to wonder, what comes afterward?
no longer having or seeming to have or expecting to have life
From this reading There was one way to find out--ask a dead man!
having its true character concealed with the intent of misleading
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
plural of “doctor” — a licensed medical practitioner
From this reading Doctors had given him just one month to live.
inflected form of “drink” — take in liquids
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
come upon, as if by accident; meet with
From this reading There was one way to find out--ask a dead man!
acknowledged as a supposition
From this reading Doctors had given him just one month to live.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Doctors had given him just one month to live.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
occupied or in the control of; often used in combination
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Doctors had given him just one month to live.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
the form of “be” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading There Is A Reaper ...
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
and nothing more
From this reading Doctors had given him just one month to live.
plural of “lip” — either of two fleshy folds of tissue that surround the mouth and play a role in speaking
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
an alcoholic beverage that is distilled rather than fermented
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
be an inhabitant of or reside in
From this reading Doctors had given him just one month to live.
an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading There was one way to find out--ask a dead man!
one of the twelve divisions of the calendar year
From this reading Doctors had given him just one month to live.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading Doctors had given him just one month to live.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading There was one way to find out--ask a dead man!
spoil as if by poison
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
someone who helps to gather the harvest
From this reading There Is A Reaper ...
change one's facial expression by spreading the lips, often to signal pleasure
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
in or at that place or location
From this reading There Is A Reaper ...
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading Doctors had given him just one month to live.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading There was one way to find out--ask a dead man!
past form of “watch” — look attentively
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading There was one way to find out--ask a dead man!
used to ask for information about something
From this reading A month to wonder, what comes afterward?
in the company of; together with
From this reading The amber brown of the liquor disguised the poison it held, and I watched with a smile on my lips as he drank it.
the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising
From this reading A month to wonder, what comes afterward?
Chapter 1 of There Is a Reaper ... by Charles V. De Vet holds 135 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 1 holds 135 sentences of There Is a Reaper ..., unabridged, divided into 27 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of There Is a Reaper ... by Charles V. De Vet exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 135 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 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 There Is a Reaper ... by Charles V. De Vet on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 135 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #29954 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #29954, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 11 minutes of reading across 27 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through There Is a Reaper ... section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 1 chapters of There Is a Reaper ... 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 There Is a Reaper ..., each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
