Book Anatomy · The Hound of the Baskervilles
The Hound of the Baskervilles: Prose style
17 lenses on prose style for The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. Count lenses are exact for our text. AI lenses are our reading and cite only quotes that passed a word for word check.
Jump to: H1 H2 H3 H4 H5 H6 H7 H8 H9 H10 H11 H12 H13 H14 H15 H16 H17
H1. Readability score per chapter. Count
Flesch reading ease for the whole book is about 76 (higher is easier; 60 to 70 is plain English).
Reading ease per chapter, chapter by chapter
H2. Vocabulary range. Count
5,613 different words. On average 50 in every 100 words are new within a 500 word stretch. 2,672 words appear only once.
H3. Signature words: what this author uses far more than others. Count
holmes, moor, watson, henry, hound. See the full lens on the book page.
H4. Adverb and adjective rates. Count
About 11.4 words ending in 'ly' and 8.98 likely adjectives per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
'ly' words per 1,000, chapter by chapter
H5. Share of weak verbs such as "was" and "had". Count
'Was', 'were', 'had', 'is' and 'are' make up 3.9% of all words.
H6. Passive voice rate. Count
About 5.2% of sentences use a passive form such as 'was taken'. (rough estimate from word lists)
H7. Variety of sentence openings. Count
The five most common first words start 31% of sentences: i, the, it, he, but.
| First word | Sentences |
|---|---|
| i | 482 |
| the | 247 |
| it | 204 |
| he | 194 |
| but | 136 |
| you | 115 |
| we | 113 |
| and | 112 |
| there | 100 |
| what | 78 |
H8. Rhythm: how much sentence length varies. Count
Sentence length varies by 0.69 of its mean on average (higher means a more varied rhythm).
Variation per chapter, chapter by chapter
H9. Similes and metaphors: how many, and of what kind. Both
54 likely similes ('like a', 'as ... as'): 0.91 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Ch 1, para 7: “I think,” said I, following as far as I could the methods of my companion, “that Dr. Mortimer is a successful, elderly medical man, well-esteemed since those who …
Ch 1, para 40: The appearance of our visitor was a surprise to me, since I had expected a typical country practitioner. He was a very tall, thin man, with a long …
Ch 2, para 8: “The exact date is 1742.” Dr. Mortimer drew it from his breast-pocket. “This family paper was committed to my care by Sir Charles Baskerville, whose sudden and tragic …
Ch 2, para 8: “The exact date is 1742.” Dr. Mortimer drew it from his breast-pocket. “This family paper was committed to my care by Sir Charles Baskerville, whose sudden and tragic …
Ch 2, para 21: “The company had come to a halt, more sober men, as you may guess, than when they started. The most of them would by no means advance, but …
Ch 3, para 79: “Exactly. But surely, if your supernatural theory be correct, it could work the young man evil in London as easily as in Devonshire. A devil with merely local …
The book uses similes and metaphors sparingly but vividly. Key examples include the moor as a Grimpen Mire (moral confusion), the hound as both legend and murder weapon, and Holmes as a conductor of light. Most are tied to character psychology or the central mystery.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 14
It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. (Ch 1, para 14)
Life has become like that great Grimpen Mire, with little green patches everywhere into which one may sink and with no guide to point the track. (Ch 7, para 123)
Somewhere in the heart of the great Grimpen Mire, down in the foul slime of the huge morass which had sucked him in, this cold and cruel-hearted man is forever buried. (Ch 14, para 82)
H10. Senses used: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Both
Share of sense words. sight 62%, sound 26%, touch 10%, smell 1%, taste 1%. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Sense | Words |
|---|---|
| sight | 460 |
| sound | 190 |
| touch | 73 |
| smell | 10 |
| taste | 9 |
Sight dominates: Watson observes faces, figures on tors, and the hound's appearance. Sound is crucial: the hound's cry, sobs, screams. Smell appears rarely. Touch and taste are absent. The sensory hierarchy reflects Watson's role as observer and the Gothic atmosphere.
Chapters: Ch 2, Ch 6, Ch 9, Ch 12, Ch 14
there stood a foul thing, a great, black beast, shaped like a hound, yet larger than any hound that ever mortal eye has rested upon. (Ch 2, para 21)
It was the sob of a woman, the muffled, strangling gasp of one who is torn by an uncontrollable sorrow. (Ch 6, para 73)
They say it is the cry of the Hound of the Baskervilles. (Ch 9, para 108)
H11. Repetition, lists of three and other patterns. Both
57 lists of three in the pattern 'a, b and c': 0.96 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Lists of three appear in Holmes's deductions and case summaries. Repetition of key phrases like 'the moor,' 'the hound,' and 'the curse' builds dread. Patterns of concealment and revelation structure the plot across chapters.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 3, Ch 15
You,’ ‘your,’ ‘your,’ ‘life,’ ‘reason,’ ‘value,’ ‘keep away,’ ‘from the.’ Don’t you see now whence these words have been taken? (Ch 4, para 29)
Thus I had made certain of the hound, and had guessed at the criminal before ever we went to the west country (Ch 15, para 20)
H12. Old words that may trip modern readers. Count
Old forms that may trip a modern reader: whence, hath, art, betwixt, anon, ere.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| whence | 7 |
| hath | 2 |
| art | 2 |
| betwixt | 1 |
| anon | 1 |
| ere | 1 |
H13. Showing against telling, with examples. AI
The book shows rather than tells through Watson's diary entries and direct observation. Chapter 12's discovery of Selden's body shows the shock rather than explaining it. Chapter 14's climax shows the hound attack. Chapter 15 then tells the full scheme retrospectively.
Chapters: Ch 12, Ch 14, Ch 15
the body of Sir Henry Baskerville! (Ch 12, para 81)
Somewhere in the heart of the great Grimpen Mire, down in the foul slime of the huge morass which had sucked him in, this cold and cruel-hearted man is forever buried. (Ch 14, para 82)
H14. How much description comes before action. Both
Description is woven into action rather than preceding it. Watson describes the moor and house while investigating. The hound is described only when encountered. This keeps pace brisk and maintains suspense over atmosphere.
Chapters: Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 9, Ch 14
there stood a foul thing, a great, black beast, shaped like a hound, yet larger than any hound that ever mortal eye has rested upon. (Ch 2, para 21)
There, outlined as black as an ebony statue on that shining background, I saw the figure of a man upon the tor. (Ch 9, para 130)
H15. Filter words such as "saw", "felt", "heard". Count
Filter words ('saw', 'felt', 'heard' and so on): 4.42 per 1,000 words.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| heard | 65 |
| saw | 61 |
| thought | 42 |
| knew | 36 |
| seemed | 36 |
| felt | 10 |
| watched | 7 |
| realised | 3 |
| noticed | 2 |
| wondered | 1 |
H16. Shifts in tone. AI
Tone shifts from Holmes's urbane London deduction (chapters 1 to 5) to Watson's anxious observation on the moor (chapters 6 to 12) to Gothic horror (chapter 14) to calm explanation (chapter 15). The shift marks Watson's growing dread and Holmes's hidden control.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 6, Ch 12, Ch 14, Ch 15
It’s an ugly business, Watson, an ugly dangerous business, and the more I see of it the less I like it. (Ch 5, para 142)
That cold, incisive, ironical voice could belong to but one man in all the world. (Ch 12, para 2)
H17. How the comedy works. AI
Comedy is sparse and dry. Holmes's deductions amuse through their precision. Watson's misreadings of situations provide gentle irony. The spy's false name as 'Sherlock Holmes' offers light relief. Humour serves to offset Gothic dread rather than entertain.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 4, Ch 5
It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. (Ch 1, para 14)
You,’ ‘your,’ ‘your,’ ‘life,’ ‘reason,’ ‘value,’ ‘keep away,’ ‘from the.’ Don’t you see now whence these words have been taken? (Ch 4, para 29)
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