Vocabulary ladder
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Chapter 1.
2,266 words. Everyday vocabulary (band A) covers 57% of the text; the hard 7% is 95 entries — all of them below.
A 57.1% (385 types) B 6.0% (102 types) C 3.2% (57 entries) D 1.9% (37 entries) E 0.7% (15 entries) N 4.2% (43 entries)
Band B — common reading vocabulary
A sample of 24 of 102 — you will meet these often; they are explained only at the fullest help level.
- conductor
- accidental
- confess ×2
- drift
- overlooked
- confronted
- farther
- thrust
- consult
- hypothesis
- emerges
- unite
- glanced · glances ×2
- halted
- jaw
- evident
- kindly
- pledge
- publicity
- visitor ×6
- abandons
- justified
- possessing
- probability ×2
Band C — recognition checklist
All 57 upper-intermediate words in this chapter. Tick the ones you know; the rest are explained at the fullest help level.
- darting
- wavering
- dingy
- amiable
- infrequent
- picker
- errand
- ado
- fallacy
- erroneous
- reconstruct
- luminous
- terri
- inference
- convex
- stair
- dignified
- fray
- beak
- ornament
- adjective
- indifference
- souvenir
- inquire
- plainly
- vanish
- reassuring
- agile
- brightly
- inadvertently
- deduction
- enthusiast
- doorstep
- aloud
- engrave
- practise
- recess
- hesitation
- sparkle
- clothe
- admiration
- evidently
- restless
- underrate
- presume
- wisely
- practitioner
- stimulate
- trouser
- perceive
- blink
- excel
- cane
- insect
- tightly
- objection
- probable
Band D — advanced (37 entries)
- curly-haired
- with curly hair
- house-physician
- a physician living in at a hospital
- house-surgeon ×2
- a surgeon living in at a hospital
- self-importance
- a swollen sense of one's own weight
- silver-plated
- coated with silver
- thick-iron
- of thick iron
- visiting-card
- a card bearing one's name
- well-established
- firmly settled
- well-marked
- strongly marked
- well-polished
- polished well
- disarranged
- disarranged: thrown into disorder
- middle-aged
- of middle age
- old-fashioned
- of the old fashion
- absent-minded ×3
- with the mind elsewhere
- unpractical
- not practical
- coffee-pot
- a pot for coffee
- unambitious ×3
- without ambition
- forefinger
- the first finger
- settee ×2
- a small sofa
- jutted
- to stick out
- mastiff ×2
- a large powerful guard dog
- possessor
- the owner
- twirled
- to spin lightly
- benevolence
- kindly good will
- parietal
- of the side of the skull
- covet
- to long to have
- fissure
- a groove or crack
- spaniel
- a long-eared drop-coated dog
- quivering
- to tremble finely
- astonishment
- great surprise
- habitually
- by settled habit
- piqued
- piqued: stung with wounded pride
- dexterity
- skill with the hands
- testimonials
- testimonials: letters of praise
- anthropological
- of the study of mankind
- exclamation
- a cry of surprise or feeling
- mischievous
- full of playful mischief
Band E — rare & archaic (15 entries)
- antennæ
- feelers
- bulbous-headed
- with a rounded knob at the top
- frock-coat
- a long-skirted formal coat
- gold-rimmed
- rimmed with gold
- hearth-rug
- the rug before a fireplace
- well-esteemed
- highly regarded
- dolichocephalic
- long-headed — a term of skull science
- asperity
- sharpness of temper
- dabbler
- one who dips lightly into a study
- supra-orbital
- above the eye socket
- ferrule
- the metal cap on the end of a stick
- astutely
- with sharp good sense
- fulsome
- overdone in praise
- slovenly
- untidy and careless
- incredulously
- unable to believe
False friends — common words wearing old senses (2)
- interest
- the spectacle that draws a crowd — the old sense here
- use
- habit; custom — the old sense here
Names (8)
- sherlock ×6
- Mr Sherlock Holmes, the great detective
- holmes ×21
- Mr Sherlock Holmes, the great detective of Baker Street
- watson ×10
- Dr Watson, Holmes's friend and the teller of the tale
- C.C.H.
- Charing Cross Hospital, as lettered on the stick
- Dr Mortimer
- the country doctor who brings the case to Holmes
- M.R.C.S.
- Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, a doctor's letters
- Penang lawyer
- a heavy walking stick of palm wood
- Sherlock Holmes
- the great detective of Baker Street