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.
“Well, I’ve always had a secret hankering to be a detective!” “The real thing—Scotland Yard? Or Sherlock Holmes?” “Oh, Sherlock Holmes by all means. But really, seriously, I am awfully drawn to it.
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 33/71 · 5 reading units · Lines 161–165
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.
used as intensifiers
From this reading “But really, seriously, I am awfully drawn to it.”
a police officer who investigates crimes
From this reading ““Well, I’ve always had a secret hankering to be a detective!””
a yearning for something or to do something
From this reading ““Well, I’ve always had a secret hankering to be a detective!””
a fictitious detective in stories by A. Conan Doyle
From this reading “Or Sherlock Holmes?””
one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part of the island of Great Britain; famous for bagpipes and plaids and kilts
From this reading ““The real thing—Scotland Yard?”
in a serious manner
From this reading “But really, seriously, I am awfully drawn to it.”
someone who can be employed as a detective to collect information
From this reading “Or Sherlock Holmes?””
a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride
From this reading ““The real thing—Scotland Yard?”
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 “Well, I’ve always had a secret hankering to be a detective!”
(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 “Oh, Sherlock Holmes by all means.
at all times; all the time and on every occasion
From this reading “Well, I’ve always had a secret hankering to be a detective!”
the form of “be” used with “I”
From this reading But really, seriously, I am awfully drawn to it.
used as intensifiers
From this reading But really, seriously, I am awfully drawn to it.
used with a past participle to form the passive, or with -ing for continuous tenses
From this reading “Well, I’ve always had a secret hankering to be a detective!”
used to introduce something that contrasts with what came before
From this reading But really, seriously, I am awfully drawn to it.
showing who or what does the action
From this reading “Oh, Sherlock Holmes by all means.
a police officer who investigates crimes
From this reading “Well, I’ve always had a secret hankering to be a detective!”
showing the wearing effects of overwork or care or suffering
From this reading But really, seriously, I am awfully drawn to it.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading “Well, I’ve always had a secret hankering to be a detective!”
a yearning for something or to do something
From this reading “Well, I’ve always had a secret hankering to be a detective!”
a fictitious detective in stories by A. Conan Doyle
From this reading Or Sherlock Holmes?”
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading But really, seriously, I am awfully drawn to it.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading “Well, I’ve always had a secret hankering to be a detective!”
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading But really, seriously, I am awfully drawn to it.
thing or person that acts to produce a particular effect or achieve an end
From this reading “Oh, Sherlock Holmes by all means.
a midwestern state in north central United States in the Great Lakes region
From this reading “Oh, Sherlock Holmes by all means.
used to join alternatives or possibilities
From this reading Or Sherlock Holmes?”
being or occurring in fact or actuality; having verified existence; not illusory
From this reading “The real thing—Scotland Yard?
in accordance with truth or fact or reality
From this reading But really, seriously, I am awfully drawn to it.
one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part of the island of Great Britain; famous for bagpipes and plaids and kilts
From this reading “The real thing—Scotland Yard?
Something that is kept or meant to be kept unknown or unseen by others.
From this reading “Well, I’ve always had a secret hankering to be a detective!”
in a serious manner
From this reading But really, seriously, I am awfully drawn to it.
someone who can be employed as a detective to collect information
From this reading Or Sherlock Holmes?”
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading “The real thing—Scotland Yard?
a special situation
From this reading “The real thing—Scotland Yard?
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading “Well, I’ve always had a secret hankering to be a detective!”
(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’ve always had a secret hankering to be a detective!”
a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride
From this reading “The real thing—Scotland Yard?
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.
