Chapter 5 of Tom Slade at Black Lake is here in full — 55 sentences across 11 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter V
Chapter 5 of Tom Slade at Black Lake is here in full — 55 sentences across 11 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time. He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato. That was before the war; oh, long, long before. It was a young war all by itself. It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.
Chapter 5 of Tom Slade at Black Lake is here in full — 55 sentences across 11 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/11 · 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.
a narrow street with walls on both sides
From this reading “It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.”
a tube through which a bullet travels when a gun is fired
From this reading “It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.”
given to or marked by the consumption of alcohol
From this reading “It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.”
an aggressive and violent young criminal
From this reading “It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.”
occurring by chance
From this reading “ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.”
make or move along with a sound as of a horse's hooves striking the ground
From this reading “He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.”
very bad
From this reading “He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.”
mildly acid red or yellow pulpy fruit eaten as a vegetable
From this reading “He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.”
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 ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
on the subject of; concerning
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
(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 It was a young war all by itself.
a narrow street with walls on both sides
From this reading It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.
a tube through which a bullet travels when a gun is fired
From this reading It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.
earlier than; in front of
From this reading That was before the war; oh, long, long before.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading It was a young war all by itself.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.
having finished or arrived at completion
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
given to or marked by the consumption of alcohol
From this reading It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.
a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father)
From this reading It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
past form of “happen” — come to pass
From this reading It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.
the upper part of the human body or the front part of the body in animals; contains the face and brains
From this reading He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.
cause to move by striking
From this reading He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.
an aggressive and violent young criminal
From this reading It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was a young war all by itself.
used when the thing doing the action is also its object
From this reading It was a young war all by itself.
past form of “live” — be an inhabitant of or reside in
From this reading It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.
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 That was before the war; oh, long, long before.
occurring by chance
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading That was before the war; oh, long, long before.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.
on one occasion
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.
make or move along with a sound as of a horse's hooves striking the ground
From this reading He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.
very bad
From this reading He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.
perception by means of the eyes
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.
in or at that place or location
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
a special situation
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
from one end or side of something to the other
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
an instance or single occasion for some event
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
male cat
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
mildly acid red or yellow pulpy fruit eaten as a vegetable
From this reading He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.
a formal word for “on”
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
the waging of armed conflict against an enemy
From this reading That was before the war; oh, long, long before.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading ABOUT SEEING A THING THROUGH But there was one lucky thing that Tom had done, once upon a time.
at the time that
From this reading It happened when Tom was a hoodlum and lived with his drunken father in Barrel Alley.
in the company of; together with
From this reading He had hit Pete Connegan plunk on the head with a rotten tomato.
(used of living things especially persons) in an early period of life or development or growth
From this reading It was a young war all by itself.
Chapter 5 of Tom Slade at Black Lake by Percy Keese Fitzhugh holds 55 sentences, grouped into 11 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 55 sentences of Tom Slade at Black Lake, unabridged, divided into 11 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 5 of Tom Slade at Black Lake by Percy Keese Fitzhugh exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 55 sentences, grouped into 11 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 11 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 11 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 Tom Slade at Black Lake by Percy Keese Fitzhugh on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 2188 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #18943 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #18943, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 182 minutes of reading across 438 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Tom Slade at Black Lake section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 32 chapters of Tom Slade at Black Lake 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 Tom Slade at Black Lake, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
