Book Anatomy · The Big Bow Mystery
The Big Bow Mystery: Prose style
17 lenses on prose style for The Big Bow Mystery by Israel Zangwill. 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 71 (higher is easier; 60 to 70 is plain English).
Reading ease per chapter, chapter by chapter
H2. Vocabulary range. Count
6,358 different words. On average 53 in every 100 words are new within a 500 word stretch. 3,497 words appear only once.
H3. Signature words: what this author uses far more than others. Count
constant, deceased, evidence, prisoner, scott. See the full lens on the book page.
H4. Adverb and adjective rates. Count
About 15.06 words ending in 'ly' and 12.52 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 3.8% of all words.
H6. Passive voice rate. Count
About 6.2% 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 26% of sentences: the, he, i, it, but.
| First word | Sentences |
|---|---|
| the | 318 |
| he | 219 |
| i | 168 |
| it | 119 |
| but | 102 |
| drabdump | 68 |
| she | 66 |
| you | 59 |
| crowl | 55 |
| no | 52 |
H8. Rhythm: how much sentence length varies. Count
Sentence length varies by 0.86 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
64 likely similes ('like a', 'as ... as'): 1.5 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Ch 1, para 1: On a memorable morning of early December London opened its eyes on a frigid gray mist. There are mornings when King Fog masses his molecules of carbon in …
Ch 1, para 1: On a memorable morning of early December London opened its eyes on a frigid gray mist. There are mornings when King Fog masses his molecules of carbon in …
Ch 1, para 2: Mrs. Drabdump, of 11 Glover Street, Bow, was one of the few persons in London whom fog did not depress. She went about her work quite as cheerlessly …
Ch 1, para 2: Mrs. Drabdump, of 11 Glover Street, Bow, was one of the few persons in London whom fog did not depress. She went about her work quite as cheerlessly …
Ch 1, para 2: Mrs. Drabdump, of 11 Glover Street, Bow, was one of the few persons in London whom fog did not depress. She went about her work quite as cheerlessly …
Ch 1, para 4: Mrs. Drabdump was lighting the kitchen fire. She did it very scientifically, as knowing the contrariety of coal and the anxiety of flaming sticks to end in smoke …
The book uses similes and metaphors sparingly but effectively. Early fog imagery compares mist to 'the wraith of an impecunious suicide' (Chapter 1). Grodman's theories about perception and evidence generate abstract comparisons about how people see what they expect.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 4, Ch 12
On a memorable morning of early December London opened its eyes on a frigid gray mist. (Ch 1, para 1)
H10. Senses used: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Both
Share of sense words. sight 51%, touch 23%, sound 21%, taste 3%, smell 2%. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Sense | Words |
|---|---|
| sight | 181 |
| touch | 82 |
| sound | 76 |
| taste | 12 |
| smell | 6 |
Sight dominates: locked doors, the corpse's appearance, facial expressions during trial. Sound features in the riot scene (Chapter 9) with crowd noise and gas being cut. Smell and taste are absent. Touch appears in physical struggle during arrest.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 9, Ch 10
My God!" he cried. The woman shrieked. The sight was too terrible. (Ch 1, para 29)
He turned off the gas at the meter. (Ch 9, para 25)
H11. Repetition, lists of three and other patterns. Both
21 lists of three in the pattern 'a, b and c': 0.49 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Repetition of 'the Big Bow Mystery' as a refrain drives public obsession (Chapters 4, 8, 9). Lists of three appear in witness testimony and evidence summaries. The locked room puzzle repeats across chapters as an unanswered pattern.
Chapters: Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 10
The Bow Mystery Thickens. (Ch 2, para 52)
It is the most inexplicable mystery in all my experience. (Ch 3, para 25)
H12. Old words that may trip modern readers. Count
Old forms that may trip a modern reader: art, nay, whence, thither, betwixt.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| art | 6 |
| nay | 3 |
| whence | 1 |
| thither | 1 |
| betwixt | 1 |
H13. Showing against telling, with examples. AI
The book shows character through dialogue and action rather than summary. Grodman's intelligence emerges through his cryptic remarks and strategic moves (Chapters 6, 7, 12) rather than authorial explanation. Mortlake's innocence is shown through his behaviour under pressure.
Chapters: Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 9, Ch 10, Ch 12
I can lay my hand on him now," Grodman announced curtly. (Ch 6, para 134)
The two men were always overwhelmingly cordial when they met, in order to disguise their mutual detestation. (Ch 7, para 1)
H14. How much description comes before action. Both
Description precedes action minimally. Chapter 1 opens with fog description, then moves quickly to Mrs. Drabdump's discovery. Most chapters begin with action or dialogue, with setting woven in during scenes rather than in blocks.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 5, Ch 8
On a memorable morning of early December London opened its eyes on a frigid gray mist. (Ch 1, para 1)
She felt that she was alone in the house with a corpse. (Ch 1, para 11)
H15. Filter words such as "saw", "felt", "heard". Count
Filter words ('saw', 'felt', 'heard' and so on): 4.27 per 1,000 words.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| seemed | 41 |
| thought | 38 |
| knew | 35 |
| felt | 27 |
| saw | 26 |
| heard | 10 |
| noticed | 3 |
| watched | 1 |
| wondered | 1 |
H16. Shifts in tone. AI
Tone shifts from gothic horror (Chapter 1, the corpse discovery) to satirical comedy (Chapter 4, absurd public theories) to legal procedural (Chapter 10, trial) to tragic confession (Chapter 12). The shifts mark emotional peaks and genre changes.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 4, Ch 10, Ch 12
My God!" he cried. The woman shrieked. The sight was too terrible. (Ch 1, para 29)
George Grodman read this letter with annoyance, and, crumpling up the paper, murmured scornfully, "Edward Wimp. (Ch 4, para 21)
H17. How the comedy works. AI
Comedy works through absurd public theories about the locked room (Chapter 4), Denzil's poverty and pretension (Chapters 5, 6), and the contrast between Wimp's and Grodman's mutual detestation masked as cordiality (Chapter 7). Satire targets detective fiction conventions.
Chapters: Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7
Yes, but what will become of the Beautiful?" said Denzil Cantercot. (Ch 5, para 1)
The two men were always overwhelmingly cordial when they met, in order to disguise their mutual detestation. (Ch 7, para 1)
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