Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Speckled Band in English with translation

Phrase notes

1. ¹I have been looking over my notes

   LiterallyI have been reading through my notes

   WhyDoyle opens with "On glancing over my notes" — on + -ing in the sense of "when I ...", a construction now mostly found in formal writing.

2. ²of the seventy cases

   Literallyof about seventy cases

   WhyThe original has "the seventy odd cases": odd after a number means "and a few more".

3. ³for the love of his art

   Literallybecause he loved his work

   WhyThe phrase is kept from the original: Holmes works "for the love of his art".

4. ⁴rather than to earn money,

   Literallynot for money

   WhyThe original says "rather ... than for the acquirement of wealth" — a Victorian noun phrase where today we would use a verb.

5. ⁵but none were ordinary;

   Literallybut none were usual

   WhyDoyle's word is commonplace: "many tragic, some comic ... but none commonplace".

6. ⁶which had more strange features

   Literallywhich was stranger in its details

   WhyIn the original the case "presented more singular features" — singular in its old sense of remarkable or odd.

7. ⁷the Roylotts of Stoke Moran.

   Literallythe Roylott family of Stoke Moran

   WhyThe + plural surname for a whole family, and of + estate: the usual way of naming the country gentry.

8. ⁸when we were sharing rooms

   Literallywhen we shared lodgings

   WhyRooms in the British sense of rented lodgings — Holmes and Watson's flat at Baker Street.

9. ⁹that I would have written

   Literallythat I might have written

   WhyThe original is "I might have placed them upon record" — place upon record, a formal way to say write down.

10. ¹⁰but I made a promise of secrecy

    Literallybut I promised to keep it secret

    WhyDoyle uses the passive: "a promise of secrecy was made at the time" — the agent is left unsaid.