Chapter 1 of A Double Barrelled Detective Story is here in full — 627 sentences across 126 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of A Double Barrelled Detective Story is here in full — 627 sentences across 126 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Well, I have had another close miss. It was here, yesterday. I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel. That was a costly mistake; a dog would have gone the other way. But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.
Chapter 1 of A Double Barrelled Detective Story is here in full — 627 sentences across 126 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 59/125 · 5 reading units · Lines 291–295
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.
relatively low in price or charging low prices
From this reading “I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.”
entailing great loss or sacrifice
From this reading “That was a costly mistake; a dog would have gone the other way.”
(of persons) excessively affected by emotion
From this reading “But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.”
in the manner of human beings
From this reading “But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.”
a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention
From this reading “That was a costly mistake; a dog would have gone the other way.”
lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity
From this reading “But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.”
a track or mark left by something that has passed
From this reading “I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.”
the day immediately before today
From this reading “It was here, yesterday.”
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 I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
the form of “be” used with “I”
From this reading But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
one more of the same kind, or a different one
From this reading Well, I have had another close miss.
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.
to be able to, or to be allowed to
From this reading But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.
relatively low in price or charging low prices
From this reading I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
at or within a short distance in space or time or having elements near each other
From this reading Well, I have had another close miss.
entailing great loss or sacrifice
From this reading That was a costly mistake; a dog would have gone the other way.
a member of the genus Canis (probably descended from the common wolf) that has been domesticated by man since prehistoric times; occurs in many breeds
From this reading That was a costly mistake; a dog would have gone the other way.
(of persons) excessively affected by emotion
From this reading But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.
past form of “follow” — to travel behind, go after, come after
From this reading I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.
destroyed or killed
From this reading That was a costly mistake; a dog would have gone the other way.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Well, I have had another close miss.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Well, I have had another close miss.
in or at this place; where the speaker or writer is
From this reading It was here, yesterday.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
used of physical heat; having a high or higher than desirable temperature or giving off heat or feeling or causing a sensation of heat or burning
From this reading I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
a building where travelers can pay for lodging and meals and other services
From this reading I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
in the manner of human beings
From this reading But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Well, I have had another close miss.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was here, yesterday.
fail to perceive or to catch with the senses or the mind
From this reading Well, I have had another close miss.
a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention
From this reading That was a costly mistake; a dog would have gone the other way.
touching and supported by a surface
From this reading I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
and nothing more
From this reading But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.
not the same one or ones already mentioned or implied
From this reading That was a costly mistake; a dog would have gone the other way.
something determined in relation to something that includes it
From this reading But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.
move fast by using one's feet, with one foot off the ground at any given time
From this reading I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
a thoroughfare (usually including sidewalks) that is lined with buildings
From this reading I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
(used in combination) affected by something overwhelming
From this reading I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity
From this reading But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading That was a costly mistake; a dog would have gone the other way.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
a track or mark left by something that has passed
From this reading I struck his trail, hot, on the street, and followed it on a run to a cheap hotel.
precisely as stated
From this reading But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was here, yesterday.
how something is done or how it happens
From this reading That was a costly mistake; a dog would have gone the other way.
(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 Well, I have had another close miss.
at the time that
From this reading But I am only part dog, and can get very humanly stupid when excited.
used for something imagined, polite, or habitual in the past
From this reading That was a costly mistake; a dog would have gone the other way.
the day immediately before today
From this reading It was here, yesterday.
Chapter 1 of A Double Barrelled Detective Story by Mark Twain holds 627 sentences, grouped into 126 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 627 sentences of A Double Barrelled Detective Story, unabridged, divided into 126 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of A Double Barrelled Detective Story by Mark Twain exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 627 sentences, grouped into 126 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 126 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 126 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 A Double Barrelled Detective Story by Mark Twain on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 1257 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #3180 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #3180, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 104 minutes of reading across 252 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through A Double Barrelled Detective Story section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 2 chapters of A Double Barrelled Detective Story 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 A Double Barrelled Detective Story, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
