Chapter 24 of Tom Swift and his great oil gusher is here in full — 96 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
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Chapter XXIV
Chapter 24 of Tom Swift and his great oil gusher is here in full — 96 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
FIGHTING THE FIRE “THE WELL!” shouted Tom. “It’s coming toward the well!” Terror gripped at the hearts of all. The men stood for an instant as though paralyzed. Carol wrung her hands in anguish.
Chapter 24 of Tom Swift and his great oil gusher is here in full — 96 sentences across 20 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 1/19 · 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.
extreme mental distress
From this reading “Carol wrung her hands in anguish.”
joyful religious song celebrating the birth of Christ
From this reading “Carol wrung her hands in anguish.”
the act of fighting; any contest or struggle
From this reading “FIGHTING THE FIRE “THE WELL!” shouted Tom.”
inflected form of “grip” — hold fast or firmly
From this reading “Terror gripped at the hearts of all.”
a form of whist in which players avoid winning tricks containing hearts or the queen of spades
From this reading “Terror gripped at the hearts of all.”
affected with paralysis
From this reading “The men stood for an instant as though paralyzed.”
an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety
From this reading “Terror gripped at the hearts of all.”
inflected form of “wring” — twist and press out of shape
From this reading “Carol wrung her hands in anguish.”
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 men stood for an instant as though paralyzed.”
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.
(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 Terror gripped at the hearts of all.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading The men stood for an instant as though paralyzed.
extreme mental distress
From this reading Carol wrung her hands in anguish.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading The men stood for an instant as though paralyzed.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading Terror gripped at the hearts of all.
joyful religious song celebrating the birth of Christ
From this reading Carol wrung her hands in anguish.
the act of drawing spatially closer to something
From this reading “It’s coming toward the well!”
the act of fighting; any contest or struggle
From this reading FIGHTING THE FIRE “THE WELL!” shouted Tom.
start firing a weapon
From this reading FIGHTING THE FIRE “THE WELL!” shouted Tom.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading The men stood for an instant as though paralyzed.
inflected form of “grip” — hold fast or firmly
From this reading Terror gripped at the hearts of all.
(with “in”) guardianship over; in divorce cases it is the right to house and care for and discipline a child
From this reading Carol wrung her hands in anguish.
a form of whist in which players avoid winning tricks containing hearts or the queen of spades
From this reading Terror gripped at the hearts of all.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Carol wrung her hands in anguish.
inside something, or within a place, period, or state
From this reading Carol wrung her hands in anguish.
a very short time (as the time it takes the eye to blink or the heart to beat)
From this reading The men stood for an instant as though paralyzed.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “It’s coming toward the well!”
the force of workers available
From this reading The men stood for an instant as though paralyzed.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Terror gripped at the hearts of all.
affected with paralysis
From this reading The men stood for an instant as though paralyzed.
in a vehement outcry
From this reading FIGHTING THE FIRE “THE WELL!” shouted Tom.
Maintained an upright posture.
From this reading The men stood for an instant as though paralyzed.
an overwhelming feeling of fear and anxiety
From this reading Terror gripped at the hearts of all.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading FIGHTING THE FIRE “THE WELL!” shouted Tom.
in spite of the fact that
From this reading The men stood for an instant as though paralyzed.
male cat
From this reading FIGHTING THE FIRE “THE WELL!” shouted Tom.
in the direction of
From this reading “It’s coming toward the well!”
(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 FIGHTING THE FIRE “THE WELL!” shouted Tom.
inflected form of “wring” — twist and press out of shape
From this reading Carol wrung her hands in anguish.
Chapter 24 of Tom Swift and his great oil gusher by Victor Appleton holds 96 sentences, grouped into 20 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 24 holds 96 sentences of Tom Swift and his great oil gusher, unabridged, divided into 20 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 24 of Tom Swift and his great oil gusher by Victor Appleton exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 96 sentences, grouped into 20 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 20 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 20 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 24 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 Swift and his great oil gusher by Victor Appleton on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 0 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #? are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #?, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 5 minutes of reading across 0 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through Tom Swift and his great oil gusher section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 0 chapters of Tom Swift and his great oil gusher 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 Swift and his great oil gusher, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
