Scholastic Assessment Test Vocabulary: Description

Sequins the size of coins shouted from the parade float, orange against magenta against gold, and by noon the gaudy heap looked like a clearance bin parked on wheels. Noon on those sequins revealed cheapness rooted in what?

Clashing brights and oversized sequins made the float showy in a tasteless way. Gaudy names flashiness that falls apart in honest light.

The stairwell was gray-brown. The copy room was the same gray-brown. Between them the hall offered no picture and no second paint, a drab run of wall. Gray-brown from end to end, with nothing else to see, would strike a visitor as dull for which reason?

The hall wore one lifeless gray-brown and nothing brighter, a dull look with the color drained out of it.

With the tank lamps still off, luminous bells let each jellyfish show as a pale lamp of its own. Visibility before any lamp came from what property of those animals?

The jellyfish gave off their own light in a dark tank, a glow rather than a reflection from a lamp.

The pond looked solid until the oar went in. Murky water swallowed the blade within a few inches, and no eye could follow it. An oar vanishing that fast says the water failed the eye how?

The pond was so dark and cloudy that the oar disappeared within a few inches.

Rain met the new train. It left in sheets rather than beads. Nothing on the sleek shell offered a ridge for a drop to catch. Sheets of rain, never beads, point to a shell that let water leave how?

The shell was smooth and shiny, so water slid off in one skin. Sleek is that uninterrupted gloss.

Nia drew her wrist back at the first touch of the grain sack, whose coarse weave scraped like a dry brush. Her wrist learned what about the fibers?

The sack's fibers were rough on the wrist, scratchy in the way a dry brush is scratchy.

No fingerprint, no chip, and no dust in the foot: the bowl left the kiln rack pristine, as if no hand had earned a claim on it yet. Leaving the rack in that state meant the glaze was still what?

No fingerprint, chip, or dust had touched the bowl, so it was still perfectly clean and unspoiled.

The boathouse roof sagged. Siding had left its nails. A window hung by one hinge, and the dockmaster roped the door of the dilapidated building before anyone could test the floor. A rope on the door answered which danger in the structure?

Sagging roof, loose siding, and a window on one hinge had left the boathouse fallen into serious disrepair.

Saw marks still proud of the surface, the cabin table was two unfinished planks on pegged legs, rustic and unwilling to pretend it was city furniture. Saw marks still proud of the planks tell what about the making?

Unfinished planks and visible saw marks kept the table simple, rural, and unpolished.

After nine the street went dark, except for the diner sign burning pink and acid green. Neighbors shut blinds on that garish glow. Blinds coming down at night were a shield against brightness of what harshness?

Pink and acid green glared with a harsh brightness on a street that had otherwise gone dark.

The wool entered the vat a shouting green. It came out the color of river stone. A second rinse left the muted dye quieter still. River-stone green, after all that shouting color, had softened into what?

The shouting green calmed into a soft, subdued color, the brightness taken out of it.

On a hillside browned by late summer, a strip of poppies burned a vivid red that could be named from the road. From the road, those blooms seized the dull hill through what strength of color?

That red was intense and clear enough to seize a brown hillside from the road.

Salt crust, cracked mud, and not a stem: the barren ground ran from the road to the ridge with nothing a goat could mouth. Salt crust and cracked mud, and no stem among them, left the ground empty of what?

Salt crust and cracked mud ran to the ridge with not a stem growing anywhere on them.

A week of rain packed the gully with ferns. Moss climbed until the rock color nearly disappeared. In places the lush growth met overhead. Overhead ferns, after that rain, crowded the gully with growth of what fullness?

Ferns and moss grew thick and rich, meeting overhead and nearly hiding the rock.

Morning entered the cafe already tired, because grease and old smoke had turned the curtains dingy, a gray no washing quite lifted. Tired daylight through that cloth had been dulled by what condition of the fabric?

Grease and old smoke had left the cloth dirty and dull, so daylight came through already tired.

Before the bakery unlocked, a cloth had passed over the marble until no crumb, smear, or print remained. The immaculate counter looked unused. Crumbs, smears, and prints all absent, the stone at opening met what standard?

No crumb, smear, or fingerprint remained on the marble, clean past any ordinary wipe.

Pablo needed the caliper. He found rasps first, then a glove, a coffee lid, and a coil of wire. The cluttered bench had no bare spot large enough for a real search. The missing caliper stayed hidden for what reason of the bench?

Rasps, a glove, a lid, and a coil of wire crowded the bench until there was no clear place to search.

Poured concrete, a single bench, and sky, with no planting and no inscription near the eye, made the memorial plaza read as stark from the steps. Concrete, one bench, and open sky left the plaza bare with a severity coming from what absence?

Concrete, one bench, and sky left the plaza severe and bare, with nothing decorative in reach of the eye.

The chapel door carried a border inside a border, and each panel held a bird unlike the next. Six weeks in the shop had gone into that elaborate carving. Six shop weeks on one door point to detail of what complexity?

A border inside a border, and a bird unlike the next in every panel, is detail worked out at great length.

The market bell rang. Shouts answered, then scale weights, then a radio no one would claim. For a long minute the clamorous hall would not give up a single voice. At the market bell, the hall filled with noise of what crowded sort?

Shouts, weights, and a radio struck together so loudly that no single voice could be pulled free.

Before the doors opened, a footstep on the gallery stone seemed too large, and even the guard kept his voice a thread in those hushed rooms. A footstep too large for the room tells what about the quiet?

The rooms were kept so quiet that an ordinary footstep felt too large for them.

Gulls lifted off the pier in a scrape of cries that shoved conversation back into people's mouths. The flock was raucous enough to stall a whole walkway. Gull cries of that roughness stalled talk by being what?

The gulls' cries were loud, harsh, and rowdy enough to shove talk back into people's mouths.

On the corner, a violin line could have been hummed after one hearing. Sidewalk pace dropped without anyone agreeing to stop. People were slowing for a melodious tune with what trait?

The violin line was tuneful and pleasant, easy to hum after a single hearing.

One radio in the garage held a ballad. The other, on a high shelf, spat a jingle under the news. Together they made a discordant grind nobody wanted to stand inside. Ballad against jingle and news left the ear in what unhappy pairing?

Ballad, jingle, and news clashed in the same room, sounds that would not fit together.

The garlic jar seemed harmless until the lid turned and a sharp cloud crossed the kitchen into the hall. A sharp cloud from that pungent jar reached the hall by what power of smell?

Opened garlic threw a strong, biting odor from the kitchen well into the hall.

Peppers sat on high until the skins went black. People coughed at the smell before they saw smoke. The air had gone acrid. Blackened pepper skins left a smell that stung the throat in what manner?

Blackened peppers left a bitter smell that stung the throat before the smoke was even seen.

Guests under the courtyard oranges slowed and did not hurry on, the blossoms fragrant enough to stop a sentence mid-step. Mid-step under those trees, people were halted by sweetness arriving through what sense?

The orange blossoms gave off a sweet smell pleasant enough to stop a person mid-step.

A spoon from the fryer came up smelling of old fat and something sour, and the cook poured the rancid oil out rather than heat it again. Sour fat on the spoon meant the oil had spoiled into what?

The fryer oil smelled of old, sour fat and had spoiled past any further heating.

Shop lights sat on the toe of the polished shoe and came back almost as bright as they arrived. Glossy leather held a mirror the size of a coin. Lamps returning from the toe show leather able to reflect light with what brightness?

The toe was smooth and shiny enough to send the shop lights back almost as bright as they arrived.

The overhead lamp that glared on the next print slid off this one and showed the picture. Matte paper gave the light nothing to ride. Glare sliding off the sheet failed for want of which finish?

The paper's flat face gave the lamp no shine to glare on, so the picture stayed readable.

No one took a second grip on the cut fence after jagged wire ends snagged a glove. A snagged glove warns a bare hand of ends shaped how?

The cut ends broke into sharp, uneven points that snagged a glove and would snag a palm.

Hose water touched the unglazed brick and the dark spread at once, nothing beading on the face, because the porous clay drank the spill. Water darkening the brick on contact shows a structure full of what?

The brick was full of tiny holes, so hose water soaked in at once instead of beading.

Dried to the color of paper, with a hard shine, the oak leaf snapped at one pinch. The brittle flakes stayed on the thumb. Flakes on the thumb, after so little force, mean the leaf broke rather than did what?

Hard and paper-dry, the leaf snapped into flakes at a pinch instead of bending.

Willow withes came from the soaking tub and took a circle in the basket maker's hands. Wet, they stayed supple, and no crack sounded. Circles without cracks show the withes bending with what ease?

Soaked willow took a full circle in the hands and never cracked.

Under the shop mirror the necklace flashed. On the sidewalk the stones showed plastic edges, and the plating had worn at the clasp. Daylight unmasked that tawdry sparkle. Plastic edges in daylight place the showiness in what cheap class?

Flashy under the shop mirror, the necklace showed cheap plastic and worn plating once it reached daylight.

Velvet the color of wine covered the lobby benches. The floor was marble. The lamps wore shades like small tents, and the opulent room spent money in public before anyone spoke. Marble before anyone spoke already announced wealth of what lavishness?

Wine-colored velvet, marble, and tented lamps put lavish wealth on display before anyone spoke.

Grease filmed the bricks behind the kitchen door, a sack of trash had split, and drain water stood in the low spot. The cook would not step past the threshold of that squalid alley. The cook at the threshold was refusing an alley whose grease, trash, and standing water made it foul to what extent?

Grease on the bricks, a split sack of trash, and standing drain water made the alley wretchedly filthy.

Workers lifted the gray film off the chapel fresco and opened the shutters. Color that had slept for years met the sun and filled the wall. The cleaned painting was resplendent from floor to arch. Shutters and recovered color, in full sun, made the wall dazzling to what effect?

Once the gray film was gone and the sun came in, the fresco dazzled with splendid color from floor to arch.

He came up from the tunnel after the shift, sun already gone, his face the color of unbaked dough, pallid beside the lamp on his helmet. Unbaked-dough color in that face is paleness of what degree?

Coming up from the tunnel, his face was washed out, pale as unbaked dough.

Years at the wheel with no shade had turned the captain's forearms a deep brown. Beside them a new deckhand's arms looked unfinished. Those swarthy forearms had been driven by open water toward what depth of color?

Years at the wheel with no shade had darkened his forearms to a deep brown.

Cream patches, a green shoulder, and rusty spots shared the apple, so red was the wrong single name for the mottled skin. Cream, green, and rust on one apple amount to patterning of what mix?

Cream, green, and rusty spots broke the skin into irregular patches, so one color name would not hold.

The starling looked black on the wire until it turned. Then the iridescent neck went green, then copper, then a blue that had not been there. Green, then copper, then blue: a turn of the head did what to the color?

A turn of the head sent the neck from green to copper to a blue that had not been there a moment before.

The rice-paper screen glowed with the lamp behind it, yet the drawing on the far side stayed a blur, because the sheet was translucent. Glow without a clear drawing fits a sheet that treats light how?

The sheet glowed from the lamp behind it, yet the drawing on the far side stayed a blur.

Stage lamps blasted the set. The wing behind the heavy curtain stayed black. Not a rim of light marked the hem of the opaque cloth. A black wing, with the set blazing, means the curtain did what to light?

The curtain stopped the stage lamps entirely, so the wing behind it stayed black.

The olive trunk had grown in arguments with the wind: knuckles, twists, and healed splits, and not a straight line a child could trace on the gnarled wood. Knuckles and healed splits left the trunk in what form?

Wind had left the trunk full of knuckles, twists, and healed splits, with no straight line on it.

Cuffs rolled, the farrier's forearms showed cord and muscle with little spare flesh. They looked sinewy even at rest. Cord and muscle, with almost no spare flesh, present a build of what kind?

Cord and muscle showed in the forearms, lean and tough, with little spare flesh between.

The gate left a gap too low for a person and too narrow for the dog. The cat poured through and came up already walking, lithe from nose to tail. A gap too low for anyone else was usable by a body slim and bending enough to do what?

Slim and bending, the cat poured through a gap too low for a person and too narrow for the dog.

Once the tug took the berth, the sailboat at the next cleat looked like a toy, and the hulking hull blocked a slice of harbor. A toy of a sailboat, beside that tug, makes the tug's bulk read as what?

Next to the sailboat the tug looked huge and heavy, large enough to block a slice of harbor.

Sun, rain, and a long run of winters had lifted the grain of the barn shingles, silvered their edges, and left the weathered faces with no memory of their first red. Silvered shingle edges store what history of outdoor wear?

Sun, rain, and a long run of winters wore off the first red, raised the grain, and silvered the edges.

Paste, a soft cloth, and a long circular rub took the copper pot from dull orange to a warm mirror. The burnished belly held a small picture of the window. A window in the copper is shine produced by what?

Paste and a long circular rub polished the copper from dull orange to a warm mirror of the window.

The wedding spoons went into a drawer bright. Years later the bowls were spotted brown, and a thumb could not wipe the tarnished color off. Unwipeable brown spots tell what story of the silver?

Years shut in a drawer dulled the once-bright spoons and left brown spots a thumb could not wipe away.

At the edges the rug still had a pattern. In the doorway track it had almost none, and floorboards showed through the warp of the threadbare pile. Floorboards in the track mean the wool had worn to what thinness?

Along the track the wool had worn so thin that floorboards showed through the warp.

Banquet chairs were not dressed in the hall's usual cotton. Their covers came from a bolt so heavy the scissors complained, a deep cloth with a soft shine. Those sumptuous covers were cloth of what luxury?

The covers were cut from cloth so heavy the scissors complained, deep and softly shining, far richer than the hall's usual cotton.

A backup beep, a grinder, and three people shouting occupied the same second at the loading dock. The new hire put earplugs in before finding the clipboard. Earplugs answered a cacophonous mix. Earplugs before a clipboard were a defense against noise clashing how?

A backup beep, a grinder, and shouting occupied the same second as one harsh, clashing jumble.

One strike of the temple bell did not tinkle. It filled the courtyard and stayed in the stone after the clapper stopped. The tone was sonorous, with room inside it. Tone that stayed in the stone had a depth of what kind?

One strike filled the courtyard with a full, deep tone that stayed in the stone after the clapper stopped.

The kettle did not rumble toward a boil. It climbed into a thin cry that cut the closed door, shrill enough to turn heads in the next room. Heads turning in the next room followed a cry whose pitch cut through a door at what height?

The boil came as a thin, high cry that cut through a closed door and turned heads in the next room.

On the open path the boots clicked. Under the pines, where snow sat thick, each step went soft and unclear. The bootfalls were muffled. Clicks gone soft under the snow were deadened toward what?

Thick snow under the pines smothered each bootfall until the click went soft and unclear.

Low tide uncovered black mud, and walkers turned back toward the road. Even with a breeze the air off the flats was fetid. Walkers reversing their route were fleeing a stench foul in what character?

Low tide uncovered black mud whose rotten stench turned walkers back even when a breeze was up.

The cedar chest opened and the bedroom changed: coats, letters, and the air itself seemed stored in that wood. The room was redolent of cedar. Coats smelling of the chest took on the wood through what sense?

With the lid up, the bedroom filled with the strong scent of the cedar the coats and letters had been stored in.

A hot week inside the sealed bin drove people across the street, and they did not cross back until the corner. The compost had gone noisome. A street crossing beside the bin defended the nose against what?

A hot week in the sealed bin left a disgusting smell that drove people across the street.

The peach still carried its fuzz, and a palm against it felt a soft nap rather than bare skin. A rinse would come later. Before any water, the velvety surface offered the hand what feel?

Before any rinse, the peach's fuzz felt like a soft, short nap against the palm.

A fingertip drawn the length of the emery cloth came away pink. The shop kept that abrasive strip for burrs on metal, not for comfort. A pink fingertip reports a surface rough enough to do what?

Drawn across a fingertip, the emery cloth scraped hard enough to leave the skin pink, the same roughness used on metal burrs.

Clay on the sunny sill took a thumb without a fight. Cold, the same lump would have cracked at the rim. Sun warmth left it pliable. A thumb in warm clay succeeded because the material had become what?

Sun on the sill let a thumb push a wall into the clay, where the same lump cold would have cracked.

Starch held the shirt collar out from the neck like a small shelf, and the rigid band would not follow the shoulder when the wearer turned. A collar like a shelf is being held in what physical state?

Starch held the collar out from the neck like a small shelf that would not bend when the wearer turned.

The garden path refused a straight run, curving out, coming back toward the bench, and curving again before the gate. It stayed sinuous the whole way. A path that returns on itself is following a line of what shape?

The path curved out, came back toward the bench, and curved again, a flowing line with no straight run.

The lobby chair was a square seat, arms meeting the back at sharp turns, and legs set like open scissors. No curve had been allowed in that angular frame. Open-scissors legs and sharp turns meet in corners of what geometry?

Square seat, sharp turns where the arms met the back, legs like open scissors: the chair was all corners.

A hand could circle the vase's neck. Above that, the glass swelled without apology into a body like a trapped bubble, too bulbous for a narrow crate. A trapped bubble of glass, above a thin neck, is a swelling of what form?

Above a neck a hand could circle, the glass swelled into a round body like a trapped bubble.

The plant stand reached the window on legs no thicker than a pencil, and a full pot made the spindly frame tremble. Everyone walked wide of it. Pencil-thin legs invited a tip because they were proportioned how?

Legs no thicker than a pencil held the stand up, long and thin enough to tremble under one full pot.

The shed used boards from three eras, a door from some other doorway, and a post that leaned toward the fence. Nothing met square. The whole ramshackle build looked one storm from failing. A leaning post and mismatched boards earn the construction what judgment?

Boards from three eras, a borrowed door, and a post leaning toward the fence left the shed badly built and unsteady.

From the gate the elms stood in two even rows, tall, straight, and spaced like a procession, nothing casual about those stately pairs. Elms like a procession project a bearing of what dignity?

Tall, straight, and spaced like a procession, the elms looked grand and formal from the gate.

Glazed pitchers with even lips and painted sprigs took the display shelf. The plain one, lumpish at the handle and dull in color, stayed in the cupboard, too homely for the front. The cupboard pitcher was held back on what visual ground?

Lumpish at the handle and dull in color, the pitcher was too plain and unattractive for the shelf of painted ware.

The portrait showed even features, a clear brow, and a mouth nothing had stretched or soured. Viewers stayed with the comely face without reaching for a grander claim. An unsourced mouth and even features made the face pleasant for what reason of looks?

Even features, a clear brow, and a mouth nothing had stretched made the face naturally pleasant to look at.

Above the door the carved mask pulled its mouth too wide and set its eyes at uneven heights. Visitors flinched at the grotesque face before they read the shop name. A flinch at the lintel answered a carving distorted to what effect?

The carving was ugly and misshapen, mouth pulled too wide and eyes set at uneven heights.

Most handkerchiefs in the drawer stopped at a plain hem. This border was exquisite, knots so small the eye had to pause to separate them. Knots too small to separate at a glance set that stitching apart by what fineness?

The knots were so small the eye had to pause to separate them, stitching of exceptional fineness and care.

The student's first bowl slumped, kept a thumb dent, and rose and fell at the rim. Crude from the start, it held water and missed every straight line. A wandering rim, with the dent and the slump, shows work rough in what respect?

A slump, a thumb dent, and a rim that rose and fell show a bowl roughly made, able to hold water and little else of a straight line.

Grit after grit took the cabinet edge until a fingertip found only a continuous line and no tool mark. The refined corner looked considered rather than merely cut. A continuous line under the finger means the finish was polished to what result?

Grit after grit took every tool mark off the edge, leaving a smooth, continuous line.

The frame's carved ridges did not show wood. A thin yellow metal skin caught the lamp and followed every leaf. The carving was gilded. Yellow metal on the ridges is a coating made of what?

A thin skin of gold covered the carved wood and caught the lamp along every leaf.

The paperback poster used a green that belonged to no actual sky and a red that seemed to pulse under the shop tubes. People saw those lurid inks from the bus stop. A green from no sky, visible from the bus stop, struck people as color glaring for what reason?

The poster green belonged to no real sky, and the red seemed to pulse, colors harshly and unnaturally bright.

November had flattened the moor grass and pulled the sky down onto it. No tree broke the line. The eye found weather and little else on that bleak ground. No tree on the line, grass flat, sky low: the moor offered the eye what bareness?

Flattened grass, a low sky, and no tree left the moor bare, cold, and empty to the eye.

In May the valley floor, brown a month earlier, had gone a deep living green from fence to river, verdant enough to name from the ridge road by color alone. Fence-to-river green in May is vegetation known for which hue?

In May the valley floor was a deep living green from fence to river.

Above the dry wash the slopes held pale rock, a few dead stalks, and soil that puffed into dust under a boot. Nothing leafy had taken hold in that arid country. Dust under a boot, and no leafy hold, means the slopes lacked what?

Pale rock, dead stalks, and soil that puffed to dust showed land extremely dry and nearly without living plants.

Delta plots showed dark, damp earth and shoots so crowded the paths were the only bare lines. A hand in the fecund soil came up black and smelling of growth. Black soil on the hand, and shoots wall to wall, advertise earth productive of growth to what fullness?

Dark, damp earth pushed up shoots so crowded that the paths were the only bare lines, soil richly productive.

The rides had been hauled off, leaving bolt holes and pale squares in the grass. Paths ran between nothing. The ticket booth wore a locked shutter, and the desolate fairground had no one on it. Bolt holes in the grass, rides gone, left the grounds standing as what sort of site?

Rides hauled off, paths empty, and the ticket booth shuttered, the fairground stood abandoned and bare.

From the cliff rail the harbor town stacked colored roofs, a stone pier, and boats in a curve the eye could have framed. Cameras came out on that picturesque view before anyone read the sign. Cameras before the sign rose for a town worthy of what visual praise?

Colored roofs, a stone pier, and boats in a curve made the town charming and composed, like a view ready to frame.

The bookshop had a pane that leaned, a bell that rang like a spoon, and a sign painted by a careful unsteady hand. Nothing in the quaint shop had been updated to look new. A bell like a spoon, with the crooked pane, gave the place an old-fashioned air in what sense?

A leaning pane, a bell like a spoon, and a hand-painted sign left the shop charmingly old-fashioned.

The lullaby did not jump. Each note poured into the next, and the nursery seemed to lower its shoulders. The line was mellifluous. Notes pouring one into the next kept the room gentle by a sweetness that moved how?

Each note poured into the next, a smooth, sweet flow that seemed to lower the nursery's shoulders.

At noon the factory horn did not invite. It cut across the block, harsh and insistent, and every open window took the strident blast. Windows that had no choice received a blast harsh in which respect?

The noon horn was loud, grating, and so insistent that every open window had to take it.

A spoon run along the tuned glasses made a blend people smiled at without naming a tune. No note fought the next. The row was euphonious. Smiles without a tune mean the ear accepted the row for what reason?

A spoon along the glasses made a blend people smiled at, no note fighting the next.

The harp in the small room never rose to a demand. Its dulcet notes arrived at the far chair soft, sweet, and easy to sit inside. Notes easy to sit inside were soothing in which respect?

The harp stayed soft and sweet, notes easy to sit inside rather than a sound that demanded anything.

A single clap in the empty stairwell left the rail and came back fuller, as if the stone had added its own low agreement. The well was resonant from height and hard walls. A clap that came back fuller had been enriched by the stairwell adding what?

The empty stairwell took one clap and sent it back fuller, as if the stone had added its own low agreement.

The bullfrog's call did not seem to come from the lips. It scraped up from somewhere low, a guttural pulse the pond carried farther than a chirp would. A pulse from low in the body places the roughness where?

The frog's call scraped up from low in the throat, a rough pulse rather than a light chirp shaped at the lips.

The dock caller used no horn. From the near crane to the far one, every word of the berth number stayed clear, and heads turned at the last ship. That stentorian voice made words clear at the far crane by what power of volume?

Without a horn, the caller's voice stayed clear and powerful from the near crane to the far one.

Two piano keys, struck together, would not sit still. The dissonant interval buzzed, asked to be resolved, and made the student wince. An interval that buzzed and would not settle counts as what harmonic relation?

Struck together, the two keys buzzed and would not settle, a clash that asked to be resolved.

The trio had rehearsed the entrance until the three lines arrived as one color of sound. No voice poked out. The blend was harmonious. One color of sound, with no voice poking out, is a blend defined by what agreement?

The three lines arrived as one color of sound, no voice poking out of the blend.

The attic trunk had been shut since a winter nobody in the house could date. The lid rose on musty air that tasted of damp paper and closed cloth. Damp paper in that rising air marked a smell shut away with what result for the nose?

Air shut in the trunk since an unremembered winter rose smelling of damp paper and closed cloth.

The fish had lain on the sand since the day before, and the smell arrived before the sight. Walkers bent their line to leave a wide circle around the putrid rot. A wide circle on the sand was a response to decay that proclaimed what?

Rot from the day-old fish reached walkers before the sight did, a smell of decay strong enough to bend their path.

Cardamom pods broke under the spoon, and a moment later the pantry smelled like a warm kitchen though nothing was on the stove. The aromatic crush needed no pot. Spice with no pot boiling still perfumed the room in what pleasant way?

Broken cardamom pods perfumed the pantry with a pleasant spice scent even though the stove was cold.

By afternoon the bait box on the warm deck had a circle of empty standing room around it. The crew complained about the malodorous box without opening the lid again. Empty standing room around the box accused it of what offense to the nose?

By afternoon the bait box smelled so unpleasant that the crew left an empty circle around it and complained with the lid still shut.

The stage curtain in front of the lamp was so thin the dancer's outline softened while the light still came through. Folds in the diaphanous cloth showed as paler and deeper glow, not as a solid wall. Folds of glow, with the outline still visible, mark the cloth as see-through in which way?

The curtain was so thin that light passed and the dancer's outline showed through, softened rather than blocked.

Held to the window, the shawl nearly disappeared, a faint grid the breeze moved more than the eye did. The gossamer cloth weighed about as much as the light on it. A shawl the breeze owned more than the eye was delicate along what lines?

Held to the window, the shawl nearly disappeared, cloth so fine and light the breeze moved it more than the eye did.

Under the jeweler's lamp the pearls did not flash like glass. They returned a deep, soft glow, lustrous, as if the shine came from inside the surface. Shine from inside the surface, rather than a hard flash, is a glow notable for what?

Under the lamp the pearls did not flash like glass; they returned a deep, soft glow that seemed to come from inside.

Cloth, powder, and a second cloth passed over the pewter plate. The overhead lamp still found nothing to spark on the lackluster face. Nothing for the lamp to spark, after all that polish, left the surface dull in which lasting way?

Cloth and powder twice over still left the pewter dull, with nothing for the lamp to spark on.

On the table the cup looked milky white. Tilted, the opalescent glaze went pink at the rim and green in the belly, then milk again. Pink at the rim when the cup tilts is a play of color known for what?

Milky white on the table, the glaze went pink at the rim and green in the belly when the cup was tilted.

The hosta leaf refused a single green: cream in the center, blue-green at the edge, a darker rib between them. That variegated blade collapsed any one color name. A darker rib between cream and blue-green breaks the leaf into color zones of what contrast?

Cream ran the center, blue-green held the edge, and a darker rib split them, so the leaf was never one green.

At noon the oak did not cast a solid pool. Coins of sun and pads of shade shared the path, a dappled pattern that moved when the leaves moved. Coins of sun on the path were patches arranged how?

Noon under the oak broke the path into coins of sun and pads of shade that moved when the leaves moved.

The candle did not stamp a hard disk on the plaster. Its light moved, soft at the edges, and the wall seemed to breathe with that lambent glow. A wall that seemed to breathe was taking candlelight soft in what fashion?

The candle never stamped a hard disk on the plaster; the light stayed soft at the edges and seemed to breathe with the wall.

The cellar stairs ended where the bulb's reach failed. Beyond the last tread, shapes became guesses. The air looked thick with dark in that tenebrous stretch. Guesses instead of shapes, past the last light, leave that gloom with what weight of darkness?

Past the last lit step, shapes became guesses and the air looked thick with a heavy, gloomy dark.