Découverte d'un genre de polar : le whodunit - cours d'anglais

Qui sont les rois des polars anglo-saxons ? Et quel est le vocabulaire dédié à l'investigation et aux histoires criminelles. Eclairage avec Sandrine, professeure d'anglais.

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Les objectifs du cours d'anglais

• découvrir un genre littéraire et la biographie d’un écrivain ;
• apprendre à déceler des indices ;
• jouer au détective et résoudre une énigme ;
• parler, lire et comprendre en anglais.

Le vocabulaire du polar

a suspect

an alibi 
guilty / blameable
quirky / eccentric
clever
obvious
unusual
to feature/ a feature film
a billion / a dozen

Detective Story writers / novelists

Agatha Christie / Arthur Conan Doyle /  Edgar Allan Poe / Raymond Chandler

Front cover and back cover

title / novelist / illustration / summary / biography

The definition and origins of detective fiction

Definition : It is a crime fiction where a detective or an investigator investigates a crime or a murder to find out « Who did it » = Whodunnit in familiar English.
Origins : Mid-19^th century and rapidly became extremely popular. The first fictional detective was the eccentric Auguste Dupin in, The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

Qui est Agatha Christie ? (texte en anglais)

Agatha Christie is the world's best-known mystery writer. She sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in 45 different foreign languages. Agatha Miller was born in Torquay, England on September 15^th, 1890. In 1914 she married Colonel Archibald Christie, an aviator in the Royal Flying Corps. The couple had one daughter, Rosalind, before their divorce in 1928. Agatha Christie wrote 79 novels and short story collections. She also wrote over a dozen plays. Christie's first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), was also the first to feature her eccentric Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. She later invented another epic character the inquisitive Miss Jane Marple. Both Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple have been widely dramatized in feature films and madefor-TV movies. In 1971, she achieved her country's highest honor when she received the Order of Dame Commander of the British Empire. Agatha Christie died on January 12^th, 1976.

Grammaire : les formes active et passive (texte en anglais)

From Active to Passive

La voix passive est composée de l’auxiliaire Be suivi du participe passé. Le sujet subit l’action et ne la fait pas. L’auxiliaire se conjugue. Ici, il est au passé. Le participe passé est soit régulier soit irrégulier.

Agatha Christie wrote 79 novels and short stories.
➢ 79 novels and short stories were written by Agatha Christie.
Agatha Christie invented Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.
➢ Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple were invented by Agatha Christie.