Scholastic Assessment Test Vocabulary: Character

Luis ate with the blue squad on Monday and the red squad on Thursday, a fickle wing who pinned whichever color had won the last scrimmage. By October neither circle saved him a chair. Which habit of loyalty is fickle naming in that rotation?

He attaches himself to whichever side looks stronger that week. A place beside him lasts only until the next result.

The plant on Lime Street posted layoffs at noon. Nell, avaricious behind the pawn counter, bought a neighbor's drill that afternoon and tagged it thirty dollars higher before she locked up. What hunger for gain is that avaricious markup feeding?

She treats a neighbor's bad day as a buying opportunity. The drill is back in the window, dearer, before supper.

At the firehouse supper, Bram was boorish in the way the volunteers had stopped apologizing for, talking through the blessing with a full mouth and reaching across three plates for the rolls. Which table habits make boorish the fair word for him?

He is crude with people who are trying to share a meal. The blessing and the other plates do not slow his hands or his mouth.

A customer at the flower shop asked Ivo to wrap the lilies without pink paper. Churlish at the counter, he slapped the roll down and told her to wrap them herself if she was so particular. What surliness is churlish naming in that slapped roll?

He meets a small preference with rude temper. Particular, in his mouth, is reason enough to be unpleasant.

Alma skipped the clinic's noon break to sit with a man who could not read his discharge sheet, altruistic enough to let her soup cool in the staff fridge. Where in that cold-soup trade is Alma being altruistic?

She puts a stranger's paperwork ahead of her own meal. The help costs her lunch, and she gives it anyway.

In the lamp shop, an arrogant owner stopped his clerk mid-sentence to retie a bow the customer had not questioned, then announced the fix loudly enough for aisle three. Which behavior in that aisle is arrogant?

He treats his own taste as the one that counts and makes the aisle watch him overrule everyone else.

Principal Renner's office held a desk, a chair, and a clock. Austere with late arrivals, he had any student who missed the bell by two minutes copy the rule sheet by hand. How does austere join that bare office to the two-minute rule?

He is strict, and he keeps his surroundings as plain as his punishments. Two minutes late is enough for a handwritten copy, with nothing softer offered in the room.

The stable's lead horse broke the gate latch. Cass, craven beside the aisle she was paid to watch, stepped behind the feed bins while two younger grooms took the halter. What shameful cowardice is craven finding behind those bins?

When the danger is hers to meet, she hides and leaves it to other people. The loose horse becomes the grooms' problem because she made it so.

In the town garage, Rhea told a customer the alternator was new. The deceitful claim sat beside a box that still wore last winter's grease-pencil mark. How does deceitful describe her once that mark is in plain sight?

She lies about the part in order to sell it. New is the word she chose, and the pencil mark says the part has already been used.

Tomas sold a single ticket at the bus-depot window. Garrulous with every passenger, he held the line through his cousin's radiator, the fate of the 6:15, and a dog that once rode as far as Kent. What habit of endless talk is garrulous pinning on that window?

He keeps talking long after the sale is finished. The people waiting needed a ticket, not the radiator, the bus, or the dog.

Pavel, a capricious buyer for the diner, switched napkin vendors three times in September: Hale Paper, a cousin's van, then a website. The cook stopped guessing whose logo would arrive. How does capricious explain switches that did not follow a bad shipment?

He changes course because a whim strikes. The kitchen lives with whatever supplier he fancies that month.

Luce judged pies at the fair booth and was gluttonous between ribbons, taking a second slice from every table she had already scored before the awards were called. What unchecked appetite is gluttonous naming in those second slices?

Eating, for her, runs past the job and past one serving. A table can already be scored, and she still goes back for more.

A stranger in the print shop said the meter would reset if Owen tapped it with a spoon. Gullible at his own counter, Owen tried, then paid the man twelve dollars for the spoon. What ready belief is gullible exposing in that twelve-dollar sale?

He trusts a ridiculous pitch and spends money on it. The spoon does nothing for the meter, and he buys it anyway.

The rowing coach taped a note in the boathouse: the river was too fast for a solo outing. Marla, headstrong about the launch, went out anyway and left the note where it hung. What resistance to advice is headstrong showing in that untouched note?

She will not be guided once she has decided. Fast water was named for her, and the boat still goes.

The clinic fridge log had a smudged date on the 14th. Imani, conscientious about the match between label and line, came in early and rewrote it before the first draw. What duty sends a conscientious tech in early over a smudged 14th?

A correct record is an obligation for her, so a blurry date is not something she leaves for the next shift.

Seth's locksmith shop kept a full coffee can under the counter while two apprentices shared one vise. Miserly with money already in the can, he put off a second vise for another month. What refusal to spend is miserly describing?

He hoards cash he could use. The apprentices share a tool because he would rather keep the bills.

Mr. Lang was covetous of the violin in the music-shop window. After the owner said twice that it belonged to her daughter, he still slid his card under the strings. What wish will that covetous card not let him drop?

He keeps wanting an instrument that is not for sale, and a clear refusal does not cool him.

The parks window held a fund for mower parts. Una, profligate with it, bought a one-night light show over the ball field and a catered supper for the crew. Where does profligate send money that was meant for those parts?

She throws repair money at a show and a feast. The mowers can wait; the fund has already gone to one evening.

Gil watched the pottery studio, priggish about apron strings and sleeves, and stopped a beginner for a clay smudge before she had reached the wheel. What smug fussiness is priggish enforcing on that sleeve?

He prizes his own strict propriety and corrects other people for tiny lapses. A speck of clay outweighs letting a beginner start.

The vet held out a leash and asked Nora to steady a nervous dog for a shot. Pusillanimous in the exam room, she backed into the hall and would not come near the table. What lack of courage is pusillanimous naming in that retreat?

She is faint-hearted when an ordinary hard task appears. A nervous dog is enough to put her in the hall.

The county archive locked its door at five. Jonah, diligent with the last carton, stayed over box 400 until the label matched and left at 6:40. Diligent keeps him there past lockup, ranking a matched label above what?

He stays with a tedious job until the standard is met, and closing time matters less than a label that agrees with the others.

Lila stood on the co-op dock, discerning among crates, and sent two loads of peaches back before the driver cut the engine. She kept the third, from a farm twelve miles north. What can a discerning buyer tell on that dock that a hurried one might ship anyway?

She judges a real difference quickly and acts on it, even when the crates look alike from the road.

Harun sounded loyal in the family's kitchen, promising the listing would stay quiet, then proved duplicitous by texting a friend the asking price before the sign went up. Which two faces is duplicitous accusing him of wearing?

He gives the family one story and his friend another. The talk of privacy covers a sale he has already steered.

Hob's relay had just taken the pool record. Self-effacing on the deck, he asked the clerk to paint the other three names on the board and to leave his off the top line. What turning away from notice is self-effacing asking of that board?

He pushes attention toward the others even when the record is partly his. The top line stays empty of his name because he wants it that way.

Cleo clocked into the town garage, made tea, and kept a slothful watch from the office chair while the oil pan under bay two filled to the lip. What aversion to the job is slothful showing from that chair?

She lets her own task sit. The pan is hers to empty, and the tea is what gets her attention.

Cal, an eccentric shelver, arranged the bookshop novels by the color of the last page and taped a legend to the end of aisle two. What personal oddness does eccentric admit by letting last-page color run the shelf?

He is content with a system no ordinary shop would choose, so color, not the writer's name, decides where a novel lives.

Dorian approved a playbill that put his own name in larger type than the cast, an egotistical director even on a sixteen-seat stage. Who is that egotistical playbill for?

It is for him, ahead of the people sharing the show. The audience is meant to see his name first.

The surgery ran forty minutes long. Dr. Elbaz stayed equanimous, her voice at the same pitch when she asked for the second tray as when she had asked for the first. What composure under that delay does equanimous name?

Stress does not tilt her manner. A late operation and a second tray get the same steady voice.

Havel, fastidious at the tailor's bench, sent a finished coat back for one loose stitch along the cuff and would not bag it for pickup. What will a fastidious tailor not send out the door?

A single loose stitch is enough for him to reject the coat, because a tiny flaw fails his standard.

A bunk had already been approved for the room above the scout-camp supply closet. Anders lived there in spartan fashion anyway: a cot, one pot, and no chair. What chosen bareness is spartan describing in that room?

He prefers a severely simple life, including when comfort has been approved. The cot stays, and the bunk does not get ordered.

Rosa, frugal with the booster club's cash box, stitched the torn parade banner instead of ordering a new one for sixty dollars. Frugal reaches for a needle instead of which purchase?

She would rather repair what the club already owns than spend the sixty dollars.

Ned stood at the market door, genial with the regulars in his usual way, and greeted three dogs by name before he greeted their owners. What friendly manner does genial show when the dogs come first?

He is warm in a way shoppers come back for. Remembering a pet is his ordinary welcome, not a special performance.

Willa, gregarious at the team pasta dinner, dragged a fifth chair up to a table set for two and waved over a freshman who had been eating by the window. Why does a gregarious host add that fifth chair?

She wants people around her and will rearrange the room to get them.

Anouk told the shop teacher, with guileless directness, that she had never touched a band saw and would like to be shown before she cut the board. Guileless directness leaves what out of that admission?

There is no pretense in it. She names the skill she lacks and asks to be taught.

Moth ran the theater box office and was thrifty with the paper budget, printing programs on the blank backs of last month's flyers so every seat still had a sheet. What saving habit is thrifty praising in those reused flyers?

She cuts waste without dropping what the audience needs. Old paper does the work of a fresh order.

Pico ran the cafe kitchen on hedonistic terms, building the lunch menu around dishes he felt like eating and letting the Tuesday rush sort itself out. Whom does a hedonistic menu serve before that rush?

His own appetite sets the plan, and the line of customers comes second.

After the championship, a humble captain, June, pointed the locker-room cameras toward the bench players and said the shutout had started with them. What does humble do with the credit once those cameras swing away from her?

She hands the win to teammates who played fewer minutes and keeps a modest view of her own part.

Rhee lectured the town-office staff about the 8:30 bell, then proved hypocritical by breezing in at 10:04 with a coffee and no apology. What split between the lecture and the arrival does hypocritical open?

He demands a punctuality he does not keep. The bell is a rule for the staff and a suggestion for him.

With eighteen seconds left and the play still developing, Tamsin launched an impetuous shot from the midcourt logo. The coach's shout arrived after the ball. What did that impetuous shot follow instead of the play in front of her?

A sudden urge moved her while time was still on the clock. The developing play lost to the rush.

Boyd, indolent on the night shift at the grocery, left the same three carts unstocked by aisle six, and the log showed the gap on five straight evenings. What work does indolent avoid across those five nights?

He dodges the stocking that is plainly his, so the same carts wait because he will not move them.

During a mock trial in the civics classroom, Fern asked in an ingenuous voice which lawyer was supposed to be hers. The teacher paused, then saw she was not joking. What innocence does ingenuous find in a lawyer question she truly means?

She asks something risky because she has no sense that it is risky. There is no strategy in it, only a gap she wants filled.

Idris answered a classroom reminder with an insolent line, telling the teacher to sit down and stop talking while the rest of third period went quiet. What respect does that insolent order deny the teacher?

He speaks as if the teacher's authority were nothing, and the line is meant to humiliate in front of the class.

The footbridge was slick and the creek was up. Calla, intrepid on the trail crew, crossed the log anyway to reach a hiker who had stopped halfway. What fear does intrepid refuse to let stop her?

Danger that would turn other people around does not turn her. She goes onto the wet log because someone is stuck on it.

A coffee spilled across one invoice, and Moss, irascible before the crew had even clocked in, shouted at all six of them in the warehouse office. How small a spill is enough to set an irascible shout loose?

One stain on a page is enough, and the blast hits people who did not spill it.

Yves, a judicious referee, kept the whistle down until he had seen the replay on the scorer's tablet, then changed the call in front of a groaning home bench. What does a judicious referee still need before that whistle changes?

He needs the replay, not the groan of the home bench. The call waits until the evidence is enough.

Petra slid out from under the truck, laconic as ever, and gave the service desk two words: timing belt. The rest of the estimate she wrote on one line. What habit of speech is laconic describing in those two words?

She uses only what the repair needs and leaves the longer explanation unsaid. A full account is available to her, and she declines it.

Gideon had always moved through the bookshop in a languid way, and he paused so long at the poetry ladder that a customer restocked the lower shelf herself. What vitality is missing in that languid pause?

His usual manner is so slow and low-energy that the shelf beside him gets finished by someone else.

A visitor asked Noor whether the museum clock still ran. Loquacious on slow days and crowded ones alike, she answered with a ten-minute history of the gears. What does loquacious tend to do with a yes-or-no?

She expands it into a long story, because talking at length is her habit on any kind of day.

Saul was malevolent toward the other goalie all season. Before the final he tipped the rival's water bottle into the rink drain and smiled at the empty plastic. What did that malevolent season want for the other goalie?

He wanted the rival worse off, and the smile says the empty bottle was the point.

Veda pinned a hem, measured it, wrote the number, and measured again, meticulous through three passes before she cut the thread in the fitting room. Why does meticulous make a third measurement the condition for cutting?

She will not trust a small length until she has checked it again. One figure is not her idea of sure.

Clem told the night meeting that people were a nuisance he had to print, a misanthropic line he repeated whenever a reader called the newsroom. Whom does that misanthropic line, said at every call, take as a nuisance?

People in general, including the readers on the phone. Dislike of humankind is his settled view, and he does not hide it.

Hester's check covered the entire clinic wing, a munificent gift the plaque priced at the figure the board had expected to raise over four years. What scale of giving is munificent honoring when one check replaces that campaign?

The gift is far beyond an ordinary donation. A wing that was going to take four years arrives in a single signature.

Ryn kept the block patrol's route list. Treacherous with that trust, she sold a copy to the landlord the patrol had been timing on Friday nights. What betrayal is treacherous naming in that sale?

She sells out people who relied on her. The route was a shared secret, and it goes to the person the patrol was watching.

New lab pages arrived at the town court clerk's window, and Judge Maren was obdurate: the file on the bridge contract would not be reopened. What has an obdurate judge hardened herself against, with those pages already in the building?

She will not yield even to evidence that showed up late. The decision has set, and fresh paper does not soften her.

After eleven budget meetings, an obstinate mayor, Felix, rejected the compromise that would have split the library hours down the middle. What will an obstinate mayor not take, even at meeting eleven?

He will not take the halfway plan. Pressure and a middle offer do not move him off his position.

A regular at the crab stall asked Pax to tip the scale. Upright at the market table, he wrote the true weight and rang it while the man was still watching. What steadiness of right conduct is upright showing on that ticket?

He stays honest when cheating would be easy and the customer wants it. The true number goes on the slip anyway.

Yara, officious at the clinic's front desk, unzipped a patient's bag and rearranged the folders inside before anyone asked her to help. What flaw does that officious help carry?

Nobody requested it. She takes charge of other people's things and treats the impulse to manage them as enough reason.

A rumor of a new factory reached the diner on Monday. Knox, opportunistic with corner lots, bought the parcel on Oak by Friday and listed it the next morning. What is that opportunistic purchase aimed at while the factory is still only talk?

His own gain, seized the moment a chance appears. The town's rumor is an opening, not a worry he shares.

Leif ran the inn with a parsimonious hand, adding two dollars to a bill because a guest had taken a second towel from the hall closet. What will a parsimonious innkeeper not give away, even from a stocked closet?

A spare towel. He is stingy about a small comfort and puts it on the bill.

Sable glanced at a finished sketch and, patronizing as usual in the design studio, told the junior it was cute for a beginner. What does patronizing do to the junior while sounding kind?

It keeps her small. The sketch is finished, and the praise still frames its maker as a child at the table.

Umber halted the newsroom budget meeting over a comma in the third footnote, pedantic enough to send six editors back to a style sheet for a mark no reader would see. What does that pedantic stop turn an unseen comma into?

A crisis for the whole room, and a chance for him to be the person who caught a trivial rule.

The council had voted in a closed room. Pilar, perfidious with the tally, carried the private count to the other party before the minutes existed. What trust did that perfidious errand break?

The trust of a closed vote. She was inside the confidence and delivered the count where it did not belong.

Hugo, a perspicacious scout, looked once at the muddy cleats by the bench and knew which runner had skipped the hill workout. What do those cleats tell a perspicacious scout without a confession?

Who skipped the hills. He reads a small sign that other people walk past.

Joss inspected restaurant kitchens for the town. Venal about the stamp, he passed a fridge that had failed its temperature check after a fifty-dollar bill turned up in the comment card. The fridge failed and still got a stamp. What, in that venal inspection, had a price?

His official yes can be bought. Fifty dollars outweighs a temperature the fridge did not meet.

Quinn, philanthropic with the mill's profits, funded a town library and asked only that the doors stay open past the factory whistle. Whom is that philanthropic gift for, if the only condition is the hours?

The town, including people coming off the shift. His money builds something the public can use, and the request is that they get in.

Fog held the 7:10 at the dock. Captain Rourke, phlegmatic in weather that rattled the new hands, gave the same even orders he gave on clear mornings. What kind of temper stays phlegmatic when the new hands do not?

A calm one that is his by nature, fog or clear sky. Bad weather does not raise the kind of captain he is.

Amina was pious in her practice, at the organ bench before dawn on ordinary days and on the holiday when the chapel was otherwise locked. What devotion is pious keeping when a locked chapel does not move her hour?

A religious practice she keeps whether or not anyone assigned the morning.

Elin wrote the dental clinic's reminder postcards. Verbose on a space meant for a single line, she filled the front and the back with notes on floss, the weather, and which lot to park in. What overload of words is verbose describing on that little card?

She uses far more words than the task needs. A reminder swells into a short essay the patient did not require.

Horst opened the banquet with a pompous recitation of three titles, a committee chairmanship, and a county medal before he said good evening. What can a pompous host not skip on the way to hello?

The list of his own honors. He needs the room to feel his rank before a simple greeting can happen.

The pasture gate hung open and the hardware store was nine miles off. Wes, pragmatic with the farm crew, closed it with wire already on the truck. What kind of fix does pragmatic choose when the store is nine miles away?

The one already at hand. A perfect hinge can wait; the open gate cannot.

Kit emailed the client a new price before the partner had seen it, a presumptuous intern move that reached the client's phone during lunch. Whose decision did that presumptuous email take?

The partner's. The price was not his to send, and the client had it before review.

Giles described a twelve-dollar mug, pretentious behind the gallery counter, as a curated object of desire with a provenance in the kiln's second firing. What is that pretentious speech trying to do to a twelve-dollar mug?

Make it sound rare and important. The language is doing the inflating, not the clay.

Tess was prodigal with the orchard account, spending the harvest deposit on a weekend of fireworks over the river and a band from two counties away. Fireworks and a visiting band: how does prodigal spending treat the harvest deposit?

Recklessly, on spectacle. Money meant for the orchard leaves as fireworks and a visiting band.

Hal held the foundation's grant check in the town-office safe until a second bid arrived, prudent about signing while only one roofer had priced the leak. What is that prudent wait protecting the grant from?

A commitment made on one price. He thinks ahead and will not sign the repair until a second bid is in.

In the middle of a budget hearing, Senator Kline offered a puerile joke about nap time and looked around for laughs while the clerk still had the tax line open. What setting makes that nap-time joke puerile?

A public budget hearing, with the tax figures still open, is where he hunts for giggles like a child in class.

Edie, punctilious about the banquet chart, moved a place card that sat half an inch too far left and reprinted the seating list before guests reached the stairs. What will a punctilious host not leave unfixed, even before the guests are upstairs?

A half-inch error in the ceremony. Formal detail is part of who she is, including placements other people would pass.

Nestor kept the school's lost-and-found bin. Virtuous about other people's property, he logged a wallet and phoned the owner the same afternoon, though the cash inside would not be missed until Monday. Why does that same-day call make virtuous fit him?

Doing right by the owner is his ordinary character. The cash could have waited, and he does not let it.

Faye presented a quixotic plan at the harbor board: a free ferry for every islander, forever, with no fare and no seasonal cutoff. Why is a forever-free ferry, with no seasonal cutoff, quixotic at that harbor hearing?

It is impractical. The kindness is sincere, and the plan has no limit that would let the board run it.

Beni, rash in the last minute, left the goal crease to punch a cross that the fullback was already reaching. The ball skipped in behind him. What did that rash charge fail to weigh?

The cost of an empty crease. He acted before he considered that the fullback already had the cross.

Cadet Ruiz stood recalcitrant on the drill field, arms folded, while the instructor repeated the order to fall in with squad four. What is a recalcitrant cadet refusing when the order is repeated?

A direct command. His folded arms are the answer, and cooperation is not in them.

The map society saved Pim a desk by the north windows. Reclusive as he had been for years, he stayed in the shed behind the survey office and sent his regrets on a card. Where would that reclusive cartographer rather work?

Alone in the shed, away from colleagues who saved him a desk. Company is not a temptation.

Counselor Bly met the clinic's Wednesday group with a reserved manner, listening through a long stretch of the hour before offering a single sentence. How slowly does a reserved counselor reveal her own mind?

She holds it back through most of the hour. Attention comes first, and her view arrives late and brief.

Down by two with a minute left, Captain Ade stayed resolute and called the play the team had practiced, waving off the frantic suggestion from the bench. What does that resolute call stay tied to?

The play they practiced. A frantic sideline and a losing score do not pull her off the decision.

Wynn drove the campus shuttle on a posted loop. Wanton with the sheet, she skipped three marked stops to reach the garage early, leaving riders on the curb. What reckless disregard is wanton naming in those skipped stops?

She tosses aside a duty other people are counting on, for her own convenience. An early return to the garage matters more to her than the stops she was assigned.

Elder Min, sagacious about the bottom fields, reminded the co-op that those acres had flooded in 1998 and told them to plant the upper slope instead. Which memory does a sagacious planter still trust when the low land looks fine today?

The 1998 flood. She judges from long knowledge rather than the morning's clear look.

Chair Bell quoted the honor code twice during the ticket meeting, sanctimonious in the doorway, then slipped the leftover passes into his coat pocket on the way out. What kind of show is that sanctimonious quotation, next to the pocket?

A performance of goodness. The code is for the room to hear, and the leftover passes leave with him.

The ceramics teacher set the kiln and posted the temperature on the studio door. Sera, willful about her bowl, fired it at a different number anyway. What insistence on her own way is willful showing at that kiln?

She does what she has decided even against a direct instruction. The number on the door is not the number she uses.

A salesman opened a case of miracle salt in the feed store. Holt, worldly about road pitches, asked which shops in the next county had already refused it before he let the lid stay up. What knowledge of how deals actually work is worldly giving him?

He has seen this kind of pitch before and does not meet it as a newcomer. A miracle claim is, for him, a reason to ask who already said no.

Kip took every errand the page desk handed him and offered no view of his own, servile through a whole afternoon of coffee, copies, and a run to the clerk's car. With coffee, copies, and no opinion of his own, how servile is that page-desk afternoon?

Entirely. He serves with no preference of his own beside the coffee, the copies, or the run to the car.

Opal priced the cracked crate of pears two dollars lower before the seller mentioned the split, a shrewd call the market manager later read off the tape. What has that shrewd markdown already accounted for?

The crack, and what it should do to the price, before anyone confesses the damage.

Nurse Hwang was solicitous on the night round, returning to room 14 because the patient had coughed once, then checking the water pitcher she had filled an hour earlier. How does solicitous concern show past the chart?

One cough brings her back, and she rechecks a pitcher she has already filled. The worry hovers beyond the minimum.

Treasurer Bloom ordered engraved napkins for a Tuesday practice, a spendthrift charge the club audit flagged before the pasta had cooled. How does that spendthrift order fail the occasion?

Practice is not a banquet, and engraved napkins spend club money on a flourish the night does not need.

Manager Crowe wore the same gray suit to the branch lobby and spoke only when the agenda reached his line, staid through a renovation debate that grew loud around him. What manner does staid keep when the debate gets loud?

A sober, unflashy one. He speaks on his line and does not join the noise.

First Mate Dorset stayed steadfast on the midnight watch, declining the captain's offer to rotate him off after a six-hour stretch in cold spray. How firm is that steadfast hold once he is allowed to leave?

Firm enough to decline the rotation. He keeps the watch he took, spray and hour notwithstanding.

Parents stood in a loose group at the rink ticket window. Dace, imperious in the booth, pointed to a spot for each person and repeated the order until the group rearranged itself. What expectation of obedience is imperious showing in that pointing?

She treats strangers as people who ought to follow her commands. A ticket line, in her hands, is something she directs.

Aide Perr was sycophantic before every meeting, repeating the senator's own phrase back to him and waiting to see the nod before he opened his folder. What is that sycophantic repetition fishing for?

Favor. The sentence is a mirror held up for a reward, not a view he worked out himself.

Briggs walked the plant at midnight and was taciturn when the manager asked for a report, answering with a nod and nothing further, as he did on every round. What speech habit is taciturn on that midnight round?

Habitual silence. A report that could be a sentence stays a nod, every night.

Coach Mir posted temperate rules on the locker-room door: practice ended at ninety minutes, and extra laps were not to be used as punishment. What boundary does temperate draw around that discipline?

Hard work stops at ninety minutes, and punishment does not become an excuse to pile on laps. She keeps the rules inside bounds.

Dr. Seng kept a soil log in the lab for seven years, tenacious about the Friday line, adding a measurement even on the week the greenhouse roof leaked. What will that tenacious Friday line not quit for?

A leaking roof. She holds the record long after a casual researcher would have skipped the week.

When the office asked Clerk Pym to read the minutes, his voice dropped and he sat down before the last page, timid in front of twelve people he saw every day. Where does that timid courage fail?

In front of his own office, at the ordinary task of reading the minutes aloud. Twelve familiar faces are enough to make him stop early.

The clinic had to drop one Saturday nurse. Vesper, ruthless about the payroll number, cut the nurse who had just come back from leave because that name cost more, and she sent the news by a note on the locker. What absence of pity is ruthless showing in that note?

She will harm a person's job to hit a figure, and she will not soften the blow. The recently returned nurse is a cost she is willing to erase.

Laureate Fen, unassuming at the awards table, asked the engraver to list her lab partners above her own name on the plaque. What display is unassuming declining when her name is not first?

The spotlight the prize already offered. She wants the partners' names ahead of her own.

Morrow greeted every buyer as brilliant, unctuous in the showroom, and only then turned the tag to show the price. What purpose is that unctuous greeting serving before he knows the buyer?

Smoothing the sale. The compliment is slick and automatic, laid on ahead of the price.

A guest in room 412 shouted about the radiator. Manager Iles stayed urbane, lowered the voice of the lobby, fixed the heat, and never blamed the guest in earshot. What courtesy does urbane keep while the heat in 412 gets fixed?

A smooth, civil one. The shouting upstairs does not become a scolding the lobby can hear.

Principal Dawe was vacillating about aides: she hired two on Monday and canceled both posts on Friday, then asked the board what she ought to have done. What can a vacillating principal not do with that staffing choice?

Settle it and hold it. The hires and the cancellations are one decision, undone inside a week, and she asks the board to explain the wobble.

Soloist Karr spent the radio interview on his trophies, vainglorious for twelve minutes, and never mentioned the orchestra behind the concerto. What is that vainglorious interview centered on?

His own glory. The people who played with him never enter the story.

Editor Senn sent a calm memo at nine and by noon was rewriting the same piece at a shout, volatile enough that the night desk had taped a caution above his door weeks ago. What is a volatile manner likely to do between that memo and that shout?

Swing hard and without much warning. The morning version of him is a poor guide to noon, which is why the caution stays on the door.