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.
I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool. The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for. Money! Well, don’t let him have too much of it. Farmer Raikes has got a very pretty young wife.
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 54/71 · 5 reading units · Lines 266–270
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.
a person who operates a farm
From this reading “Farmer Raikes has got a very pretty young wife.”
a person who lacks good judgment
From this reading “I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.”
possessive form of “man” — an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
joined in matrimony
From this reading “The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.”
pleasing by delicacy or grace; not imposing
From this reading “Farmer Raikes has got a very pretty young wife.”
the cardinal number that is the sum of nineteen and one
From this reading “The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.”
used of the younger of two persons of the same name especially used to distinguish a son from his father
From this reading “The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.”
used when the person spoken to is also the object of the action
From this reading “The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.”
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 Farmer Raikes has got a very pretty young wife.
the form of “a” used before a word that begins with a vowel sound
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
at the same time that; because; in the way that
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
a person who operates a farm
From this reading Farmer Raikes has got a very pretty young wife.
a person who lacks good judgment
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
inflected form of “get” — come into the possession of something concrete or abstract
From this reading Farmer Raikes has got a very pretty young wife.
the form of “have” used with he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Farmer Raikes has got a very pretty young wife.
used with a past participle to form the perfect tenses
From this reading Well, don’t let him have too much of it.
a man, boy, or male animal already mentioned, as the subject
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
the male already mentioned, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading Well, don’t let him have too much of it.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
a thing, animal, or idea already mentioned
From this reading Well, don’t let him have too much of it.
used to make a suggestion or a command including the speaker
From this reading Well, don’t let him have too much of it.
prefer or wish to do something
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
possessive form of “man” — an adult person who is male (as opposed to a woman)
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
joined in matrimony
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
the most common medium of exchange; functions as legal tender
From this reading Money!
to a great degree or extent
From this reading Well, don’t let him have too much of it.
not any; not one
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading Well, don’t let him have too much of it.
(used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
not allowed to continue to bat or run
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
pleasing by delicacy or grace; not imposing
From this reading Farmer Raikes has got a very pretty young wife.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading Farmer Raikes has got a very pretty young wife.
precisely, exactly
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
being the one previously mentioned or spoken of
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
used to introduce the second part of a comparison
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
to a degree exceeding normal or proper limits
From this reading Well, don’t let him have too much of it.
the cardinal number that is the sum of nineteen and one
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
precisely as stated
From this reading Farmer Raikes has got a very pretty young wife.
(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, don’t let him have too much of it.
used to ask for information about something
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
a married woman; a man's partner in marriage
From this reading Farmer Raikes has got a very pretty young wife.
an adult female person (as opposed to a man)
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
a late time of life
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
the person or people being spoken to
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading I said right out: ‘You’re an old woman, Emily, and there’s no fool like an old fool.
(used of living things especially persons) in an early period of life or development or growth
From this reading Farmer Raikes has got a very pretty young wife.
used of the younger of two persons of the same name especially used to distinguish a son from his father
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
used when the person spoken to is also the object of the action
From this reading The man’s twenty years younger than you, and don’t you fool yourself as to what he married you for.
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.
