The room was dark and silent until two ghostly (a)   floated past the doorway.

The teacher found it difficult to manage the (a)   students who constantly argued and interrupted.

The toddler let out a loud, (a)   wail when told he couldn’t have another cookie.

The court ordered the company to pay (a)   to customers affected by the recall.

The emotional story seemed to (a)   the audience to take action.

The director was criticized for including (a)   violence that didn’t support the plot.

Rumors about the new student began to (a)   quickly through the school.

The celebrity was constantly surrounded by (a)   who laughed at every joke and agreed with every word.

The engineer’s (a)   attitude toward safety protocols led to a serious accident.

The country invested heavily in its transportation (a)   , repairing roads and building new railways.

The negotiations became so (a)   that both sides began to lose patience.

The library shelves were lined with ancient (a)   on law, medicine, and philosophy.

Dim lighting and soft music created an atmosphere (a)   to studying.

The publisher warned the blogger not to (a)   on copyrighted material.

The editor was so (a)   that she found a typo in a 300-page manuscript.

He issued an (a)   to the committee: act now, or he would resign.

The actor began to (a)   during the performance, bringing tears to the eyes of the audience.

The mystery remained (a)   , with no one able to explain the strange disappearance.

The argument escalated quickly into mutual blame and loud (a)   between the two politicians.

Her cheerful (a)   masked the sadness she truly felt inside.