The (a)   of some employees were impacted by the recent economic downturn, forcing them to postpone retirement.

His stern (a)   hid the fact that he was actually a warm, friendly person once you got to know him.

Our clumsy attempts to talk to the waiter in French were met with looks of _____________ and __________________.

(a)  

The bigger kids wore (a)   masks and jumped out from behind bushes as they tried to scare the little kids on Halloween.

Panning for gold, the prospector kept his eye out for the (a)   of the precious metal in the sand he sifted from his pan.

The (a)   student wanted to challenge the grade that he thought was unfair, but he was too nervous to approach his teacher's desk.

Joe had ________________ to call Tina and ask her out, but his confidence began to __________ when he started to dial her number.

(a)  

Your (a)   won’t work on me! I’m immune to your magic spells.

Chasing the ball into the street, the child was oblivious to the (a)   of the approaching car.

The old man’s (a)   was so extreme that it would be fair to call him stingy or cheap.

The students were blissfully unaware of the trouble they had (a)   with the seemingly innocent question they had asked their principal.

In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, the widowed queen remarries less than two months after her husband’s death—hardly a decent (a)   .