The Adventure of the Three Garridebs
UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
1. What clues did Sherlock Holmes work upon to get at the fact
that the story of the three Garridebs was a ruse?
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2. What was John Garrideb’s objective in inventing the story of
Alexander Hamilton Garrideb and his legacy?
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3. Why didn’t John Garrideb like the idea of including Holmes in
the hunt for the third Garrideb?
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4. Who was Roger Presbury and how was John Garrideb connected
with him?
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5. How did Holmes guess that John Garrideb would go to 136,
Little Ryder Street? Did he expect to find what he ultimately did
before he went there?
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TALKING ABOUT THE TEXT
Discuss the following in pairs or in small groups
1. ‘It was worth a wound—it was worth many wounds—to know
the depth of loyalty and love that lay behind that cold mask’—
how does this comment throw light on the kind of relationship
between Holmes and Watson?
2. The cleverest of criminals leave behind clues to their crime.
3. How did Holmes’ digressions sometimes prove in the end to have
a bearing on the matter on hand? Discuss this with reference
to all the apparently irrelevant points he was trying to gather
information from.
APPRECIATION
1. Examine the structure of the short story ‘Adventure of the Three
Garridebs’ with the help of this framework
♦ The narrator of the story
♦ Introduction of the topic of the story
♦ Introduction of the main characters in the plot
♦ Development of the plot
♦ Climax
♦ Resolution of the mystery.
2. Examine the subtle humour in the narration of the story that
lightens the gravity of the subject matter
1. a. Identify the words in the advertisement that gave away the
fact that it was placed by John Garrideb.
b. Make a list of words which are spelt differently in American
and British English.
2. Look at the highlighted expressions in the following sentences
from the text and explain their figurative meaning
♦ ‘I went through it, sir, with a fine-toothed comb and never
a Garrideb could I catch.’
♦ ‘They are my favourite covert for putting up a bird, and I
would never have overlooked a cock pheasant as that.’
♦ ‘There is no bolt-hole for you in this country.’
♦ ‘When his castle in the air fell down, it buried him beneath
the ruins.’
SUGGESTED READING
1. The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
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2. The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle
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3. Tales of Adventure and Medical Life by Arthur Conan Doyle.
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