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.
Her presence had spelt security. Now that security was removed—and the air seemed rife with suspicion. The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly. A vague suspicion of everyone and everything filled my mind. Just for a moment I had a premonition of approaching evil.
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 71/71 · 5 reading units · Lines 351–355
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.
every person
From this reading “A vague suspicion of everyone and everything filled my mind.”
a feeling of evil to come
From this reading “Just for a moment I had a premonition of approaching evil.”
inflected form of “recur” — happen or occur again
From this reading “The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly.”
most frequent or common
From this reading “Now that security was removed—and the air seemed rife with suspicion.”
the state of being free from danger or injury
From this reading “Her presence had spelt security.”
threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
From this reading “The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly.”
in an unpleasant manner
From this reading “The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly.”
not clearly expressed or understood
From this reading “A vague suspicion of everyone and everything filled my mind.”
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 A vague suspicion of everyone and everything filled my mind.
a mixture of gases (especially oxygen) required for breathing; the stuff that the wind consists of
From this reading Now that security was removed—and the air seemed rife with suspicion.
used to join words or parts of a sentence that go together
From this reading Now that security was removed—and the air seemed rife with suspicion.
the event of one object coming closer to another
From this reading Just for a moment I had a premonition of approaching evil.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly.
Dictionary entry pending editorial verification. Tap Listen to hear the word.
From this reading The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly.
every person
From this reading A vague suspicion of everyone and everything filled my mind.
all things; all of a situation
From this reading A vague suspicion of everyone and everything filled my mind.
morally objectionable behavior
From this reading Just for a moment I had a premonition of approaching evil.
the front of the human head from the forehead to the chin and ear to ear
From this reading The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly.
(usually followed by “with” or used as a combining form) generously supplied with
From this reading A vague suspicion of everyone and everything filled my mind.
intended to be given to, or used by, somebody
From this reading Just for a moment I had a premonition of approaching evil.
the past form of “have”, used to form the past perfect
From this reading Her presence had spelt security.
belonging to a woman, girl, or female animal already mentioned
From this reading Her presence had spelt security.
the person speaking or writing, as the subject of the verb
From this reading Just for a moment I had a premonition of approaching evil.
and nothing more
From this reading Just for a moment I had a premonition of approaching evil.
the person speaking, as the object of a verb or preposition
From this reading The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly.
The element of a person that enables awareness and thought.
From this reading A vague suspicion of everyone and everything filled my mind.
a particular point in time
From this reading Just for a moment I had a premonition of approaching evil.
belonging to the person speaking
From this reading A vague suspicion of everyone and everything filled my mind.
in the historical present; at this point in the narration of a series of past events
From this reading Now that security was removed—and the air seemed rife with suspicion.
belonging to, or connected with, somebody or something
From this reading The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly.
a feeling of evil to come
From this reading Just for a moment I had a premonition of approaching evil.
the state of being present; current existence
From this reading Her presence had spelt security.
inflected form of “recur” — happen or occur again
From this reading The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly.
separated in relationship by a given degree of descent
From this reading Now that security was removed—and the air seemed rife with suspicion.
most frequent or common
From this reading Now that security was removed—and the air seemed rife with suspicion.
the state of being free from danger or injury
From this reading Her presence had spelt security.
past form of “seem” — give a certain impression or have a certain outward aspect
From this reading Now that security was removed—and the air seemed rife with suspicion.
threatening or foreshadowing evil or tragic developments
From this reading The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly.
hardy wheat grown mostly in Europe for livestock feed
From this reading Her presence had spelt security.
an impression that something might be the case
From this reading Now that security was removed—and the air seemed rife with suspicion.
used to introduce what somebody said, thought, or felt
From this reading Now that security was removed—and the air seemed rife with suspicion.
used before a noun that is already known, already mentioned, or the only one of its kind
From this reading Now that security was removed—and the air seemed rife with suspicion.
used before the base form of a verb to make the infinitive
From this reading The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly.
in an unpleasant manner
From this reading The sinister face of Dr. Bauerstein recurred to me unpleasantly.
not clearly expressed or understood
From this reading A vague suspicion of everyone and everything filled my mind.
the past form of “be” used with I, he, she, it, or a singular noun
From this reading Now that security was removed—and the air seemed rife with suspicion.
in the company of; together with
From this reading Now that security was removed—and the air seemed rife with suspicion.
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.
