You have my word for that."  "Dead?" Dave had grown numbed to his past during the long illness, but that brought it back afresh.
Dave was generally numb to his past.
Dave's long illness made him sensitive to such words.
There is not a lot of agriculture on the island.
The cars of the '50s were never ridiculed or criticized for their shape.
A man is running.
Magnetic compasses don't function here at all because of the volcanic substrata.
The man is playing basketball indoors.
They only attend school for three hours a day.