As the year ____________ to an end, the teachers pile on more and more work to cover all the important topics that they hadn’t gotten to because of all the testing.

The attendance at the volleyball games was __________ so the PE teachers began offering extra credit to their students in hope of increasing the size of the crowd coming out to watch.

The intense heat from re-entry badly ________ the spaceship’s landing gear, making the bent struts unable to deploy correctly

Our language arts teacher always praises Jonathan’s vocabulary sentences as __________ examples of eloquence and effort that the rest of us should emulate.

The __________ fans of the new boy band threw flowers, pictures of themselves, and worse onto the stage in a desperate attempt to get the boys’ attention.

Miss Marwa insists that we only read classics; she says that current young adult fiction is nothing but ________ filled with filth and poor writing.

Whenever I get a poor grade on a test, I _________ myself with a big bowl of ice cream; this may be the reason why I’ve put on ten pounds this semester.

The _________ little dog rushed up to the big Rottweiler and growled menacingly into his face, ready for a fight.

The principal ____________ a new rule about cell phones always remaining out of sight, but she’s had a difficult time enforcing it.

I didn’t expect any _____________ for mowing our sick neighbor’s lawn, but it was nice that he offered me ten bucks. I, of course, declined his offer of payment.

While hover boards and flying cars may be in the _________ of possibility, I doubt that they will ever be practical, cheap, or readily available.

Hoping to ___________ his long-ago high school French, my father bought one of those Rosetta Stone language learning programs.

Sarah's __________ 'whateves' reply to her mother’s irate question was the reason she had her cell phone taken away for a whole month

Ryan's inability to sit still and focus on Mr. Mo's lecture proved to be a real __________ when it came time to perform on the test.

Imagining himself to possess a(n) ________ to Mr. Mo’s perilous wrath, Ahmed continued to carry on in an obstreperous and annoying way.

I regard the library as my personal _________ from all the noise and craziness that swirl through the halls of school every day.

Timmy’s calm ___________ and nonchalant manner made him popular with both students and teachers.

In his ___________ to find a quicker sailing route to the Orient, Columbus inadvertently discovered the Americas.

Many visitors to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., are deeply moved by the more than 58,000 names __________ on the black stone walls.

In the novel Fahrenheit 451, Beatty’s long __________ explains how that dystopic world came to be; it’s an important speech, but students usually find it boring.

Let me be __________ with you: the work you’re turning is slapdash and superficial. If you hope to pass this class, I strongly suggest you improve your work ethic.

The giggling and whispering in the study hall ___________ until the whole class had dissolved into full-blown pandemonium.

Unless we limit our over dependence on fossil fuels, the ____________ for global warming looks grim.

Each summer, a(n) ___________ of vacationers descend on our national parks, taking advantage of our country’s bounteous natural wonders and stirring history.

When the main life support of the International Space Station malfunctioned, the ___________ system kicked in, thus preventing any danger to the astronauts.

The ___________ finches (diverse small birds) of the Galapagos Islands proved that each distinct species had adapted to the food source on the island it inhabited and became prime evidence in Charles Darwin’s momentous theory of natural selection.

When Darwin’s theory was first published, many people were _______________ with his proposition that all species living today descended from a common ancestor. Indeed, it remains controversial even today.

Some students see writing vocabulary sentences as nothing more than pointless ____________ but perceptive students (the ones who will go far and make the big bucks) realize that this exercise will improve their word retention, writing skills, and general stupendosity.

Sidney seems to have a real _________ for writing; I predict that he will publish a bestselling novel by the time he’s twenty.

The blast from the bomb inflicted __________ injuries on the bystanders, some of them fatal.

Dilbert’s tiny office _________ is no asylum from the intrusions of unreasonable bosses and annoying coworkers.

__________ surprise, Mr. Mo walked into the hastily put together retirement party, not letting anyone know that he’d seen the flurry of emails about it.

__________ by the urgency of the situation, the park rangers rushed to the site of the avalanche in hopes of finding the lost mountain climbers.

The once wealthy and high-class woman, beset by calamity, was reduced to the _________ task of cleaning toilets and mopping floors at the bus station.

Princess Amidala was sent as the official ________ of Naboo to the Galactic Senate, in hopes of alerting representatives from other planets to their perilous situation.

Chancellor Palpatine, secretly in league with the Dark Side, sought to hamper Princess Amidala’s diplomatic efforts and __________ plans for a peace treaty.

The ________ breath of the monster lying in wait beneath the bed alerted the boy to its malign presence.

Resorting to Wikipedia as a(n) __________ to get through his report as quickly as possible, Sam was dismayed by the poor grade he received. Mr. Mo pointed out that it was inundated with inaccurate information.

One of the world's most famous legends centers around the Fountain of Youth, a spring that is supposed to instantly rejuvenate anayone who enteres its waters.

Rejuventate means nearly means: