Chapter 1 of The Mysterious Affair at Styles is here in full — 355 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
A keeper or guardian of historical records and memories.
Chapter I
Chapter 1 of The Mysterious Affair at Styles is here in full — 355 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Alfred, darling, Mr. Hastings—my husband.” I looked with some curiosity at “Alfred darling”. He certainly struck a rather alien note. I did not wonder at John objecting to his beard. It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.
Chapter 1 of The Mysterious Affair at Styles is here in full — 355 sentences across 71 reading sections, with audio for every sentence and word.
Reading 26/71 · 5 reading units · Lines 126–130
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.
king of Wessex; defeated the Vikings and encouraged writing in English (849-899)
From this reading “Alfred, darling, Mr. Hastings—my husband.””
not contained in or deriving from the essential nature of something
From this reading “He certainly struck a rather alien note.”
the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face
From this reading “I did not wonder at John objecting to his beard.”
superlative of “black” — being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading “It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.”
a special loved one
From this reading “Alfred, darling, Mr. Hastings—my husband.””
United States architect who formed and important architectural firm with John Merven Carrere (1860-1929)
From this reading “Alfred, darling, Mr. Hastings—my husband.””
for the most time
From this reading “It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.”
-ing form of “object” — express or raise an objection or protest or criticism or express dissent
From this reading “I did not wonder at John objecting to his beard.”
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 He certainly struck a rather alien note.
king of Wessex; defeated the Vikings and encouraged writing in English (849-899)
From this reading Alfred, darling, Mr. Hastings—my husband.”
not contained in or deriving from the essential nature of something
From this reading He certainly struck a rather alien note.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.
in or near a particular place or position
From this reading I looked with some curiosity at “Alfred darling”.
the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face
From this reading I did not wonder at John objecting to his beard.
superlative of “black” — being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light
From this reading It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.
definitely or positively (“sure” is sometimes used informally for “surely”)
From this reading He certainly struck a rather alien note.
a state in which you want to learn more about something
From this reading I looked with some curiosity at “Alfred darling”.
a special loved one
From this reading Alfred, darling, Mr. Hastings—my husband.”
the past form of “do”, used in questions and negatives
From this reading I did not wonder at John objecting to his beard.
at any time
From this reading It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.
United States architect who formed and important architectural firm with John Merven Carrere (1860-1929)
From this reading Alfred, darling, Mr. Hastings—my husband.”
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading He certainly struck a rather alien note.
belonging to a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned
From this reading I did not wonder at John objecting to his beard.
a married man; a woman's partner in marriage
From this reading Alfred, darling, Mr. Hastings—my husband.”
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I looked with some curiosity at “Alfred darling”.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.
a room or building equipped with one or more toilets
From this reading I did not wonder at John objecting to his beard.
for the most time
From this reading It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.
past form of “look” — perceive with attention; direct one's gaze towards
From this reading I looked with some curiosity at “Alfred darling”.
a form of address for a man
From this reading Alfred, darling, Mr. Hastings—my husband.”
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading Alfred, darling, Mr. Hastings—my husband.”
used to make a word, phrase, or sentence negative
From this reading I did not wonder at John objecting to his beard.
a brief written record
From this reading He certainly struck a rather alien note.
-ing form of “object” — express or raise an objection or protest or criticism or express dissent
From this reading I did not wonder at John objecting to his beard.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.
used to mean any person in general, including the speaker
From this reading It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.
on the contrary
From this reading He certainly struck a rather alien note.
inflected form of “see” — perceive by sight or have the power to perceive by sight
From this reading It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.
(quantifier) used with either mass nouns or plural count nouns to indicate an unspecified number or quantity
From this reading I looked with some curiosity at “Alfred darling”.
(used in combination) affected by something overwhelming
From this reading He certainly struck a rather alien note.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading I did not wonder at John objecting to his beard.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading It was one of the longest and blackest I have ever seen.
in the company of; together with
From this reading I looked with some curiosity at “Alfred darling”.
the feeling aroused by something strange and surprising
From this reading I did not wonder at John objecting to his beard.
Chapter 1 of The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie holds 355 sentences, grouped into 71 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 355 sentences of The Mysterious Affair at Styles, unabridged, divided into 71 reading sections.
This page carries chapter 1 of The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie exactly as it stands in the source edition, without abridgement. It runs to 355 sentences, grouped into 71 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 71 sections in order, replaying any sentence and tapping unfamiliar words for their entries.
Each of the 71 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 The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie on this page, its source edition and its audio.
Yes. All 5287 sentences of Project Gutenberg eBook #863 are kept, with a record of which sentences cover which part.
Project Gutenberg eBook #863, unabridged. The Project Gutenberg header, footer and licence are removed.
About 440 minutes of reading across 1058 sections of 5 sentences each, at an unhurried pace.
How to work through The Mysterious Affair at Styles section by section, using the audio and the tap-to-define vocabulary.
Choose one of the 13 chapters of The Mysterious Affair at Styles 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 The Mysterious Affair at Styles, each tappable for pronunciation and meaning.
