Book Anatomy · The Thirty-Nine Steps
The Thirty-Nine Steps: Prose style
17 lenses on prose style for The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. 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 79 (higher is easier; 60 to 70 is plain English).
Reading ease per chapter, chapter by chapter
H2. Vocabulary range. Count
5,288 different words. On average 52 in every 100 words are new within a 500 word stretch. 2,830 words appear only once.
H3. Signature words: what this author uses far more than others. Count
glen, walter, motor, moorland, police. See the full lens on the book page.
H4. Adverb and adjective rates. Count
About 9.92 words ending in 'ly' and 5.63 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 4.0% of all words.
H6. Passive voice rate. Count
About 4.6% 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 44% of sentences: i, the, he, it, but.
| First word | Sentences |
|---|---|
| i | 589 |
| the | 179 |
| he | 176 |
| it | 93 |
| but | 93 |
| then | 82 |
| there | 78 |
| my | 56 |
| a | 54 |
| they | 43 |
H8. Rhythm: how much sentence length varies. Count
Sentence length varies by 0.56 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
62 likely similes ('like a', 'as ... as'): 1.5 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Ch 1, para 2: I returned from the City about three o’clock on that May afternoon pretty well disgusted with life. I had been three months in the Old Country, and was …
Ch 1, para 23: I am giving you what he told me as well as I could make it out. Away behind all the Governments and the armies there was a big …
Ch 1, para 26: “Do you wonder?” he cried. “For three hundred years they have been persecuted, and this is the return match for the pogroms. The Jew is everywhere, but you …
Ch 1, para 39: I was getting to like the little chap. His jaw had shut like a rat-trap, and there was the fire of battle in his gimlety eyes. If he …
Ch 1, para 39: I was getting to like the little chap. His jaw had shut like a rat-trap, and there was the fire of battle in his gimlety eyes. If he …
Ch 1, para 45: “I realized that I was bottled as sure as a pickled herring, and that there was only one way out. I had to die. If my pursuers knew …
Similes and metaphors are sparse and functional. Hannay compares his situation to being 'in the soup' (Chapter 2) and describes disguise as thinking yourself into a part (Chapter 5). Most imagery is direct rather than figurative.
Chapters: Ch 2, Ch 5
I was in the soup—that was pretty clear. (Ch 2, para 4)
the secret of playing a part was to think yourself into it. (Ch 5, para 34)
H10. Senses used: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Both
Share of sense words. sight 63%, sound 17%, touch 15%, smell 3%, taste 3%. (rough estimate from word lists)
| Sense | Words |
|---|---|
| sight | 352 |
| sound | 94 |
| touch | 81 |
| smell | 15 |
| taste | 15 |
Sight dominates throughout. Sound appears in tense moments (footsteps, voices). Smell marks transitions (lime blossoms in Chapter 7). Touch and taste are minimal; taste appears only in passing references to food.
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7
After Scotland the air smelt heavy and flat, but infinitely sweet, for the limes and chestnuts and lilac bushes were domes of blossom. (Ch 7, para 29)
H11. Repetition, lists of three and other patterns. Both
13 lists of three in the pattern 'a, b and c': 0.32 per 1,000 words. (rough estimate from word lists)
Lists of three appear frequently: three spies arrested in Chapter 10, three men at the bridge game. Repetition of key phrases like 'thirty-nine steps' and 'Black Stone' anchors the plot. Hannay's repeated escapes and disguises form a pattern.
Chapters: Ch 3, Ch 5, Ch 9, Ch 10
Thirty-nine steps,” I read, and again, “Thirty-nine steps—I counted them—High tide, 10.17 p.m. (Ch 9, para 31)
H12. Old words that may trip modern readers. Count
Old forms that may trip a modern reader: ere, whence.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| ere | 2 |
| whence | 1 |
H13. Showing against telling, with examples. AI
Buchan shows rather than tells through action. Hannay's growing courage emerges through his disguises and escapes (Chapters 3 to 6) rather than internal reflection. His trust in others develops through encounters with allies like Sir Harry and Sir Walter.
Chapters: Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7
the secret of playing a part was to think yourself into it. (Ch 5, para 34)
A fool tries to look different: a clever man looks the same and is different. (Ch 10, para 24)
H14. How much description comes before action. Both
Description is minimal and brief. Buchan moves quickly into action. When description appears, it serves the plot: the archaeologist's house in Chapter 6 is described just before its revelation as enemy headquarters.
Chapters: Ch 6
H15. Filter words such as "saw", "felt", "heard". Count
Filter words ('saw', 'felt', 'heard' and so on): 7.18 per 1,000 words.
| Word | Times |
|---|---|
| saw | 77 |
| seemed | 49 |
| thought | 49 |
| knew | 41 |
| heard | 29 |
| felt | 23 |
| watched | 8 |
| noticed | 7 |
| realized | 7 |
| wondered | 6 |
H16. Shifts in tone. AI
Tone shifts from boredom (Chapter 1) to urgency (Chapter 2), then darkens through Hannay's fugitive flight (Chapters 3 to 6). It lightens slightly when he gains allies (Chapter 7) before rising to climactic tension (Chapters 9 to 10).
Chapters: Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 7, Ch 9, Ch 10
Things did happen occasionally, even in this God-forgotten metropolis. (Ch 1, para 56)
H17. How the comedy works. AI
Comedy is dry and understated. Hannay's self-aware narration about becoming 'an unholy liar' and 'highwayman' (Chapter 5) provides humour. Absurd moments like the roadman disguise and Marmie's car theft lighten tension without breaking it.
Chapters: Ch 5, Ch 8
Contrary to general belief, I was not a murderer, but I had become an unholy liar, a shameless impostor, and a highwayman with a marked taste for expensive motor-cars. (Ch 5, para 71)
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