Howard’s friends recognize that his nervous ____________(i) on meeting strangers belies in underlying gregariousness, while new acquaintances often ________ (ii) perceive him as churlish

Her performance review noted that Jill suffers from a lack of ________ (i), and often makes insulting remarks despite her best efforts to be polite; worse, that review went on to point out that it happens regularly, even though she has no intention of _______(ii) anyone.

By disclosing and explaining the details of her personal finances before they could be used against her, the council member __________(i) her opponent’s attacks during the campaign. Rather than waiting to react to the inevitable criticism should her opponent find something questionable, her campaign manger thought this strategy would be more ___________(ii).

The literary agent took _________ (i) at the statement that slush piles are nothing but __________(ii); he argued that several major authors, including Stephanie Meyer, Judith Guest, and even Anne Frank, were discovered in such piles of unsolicited, soon-to-be-rejected manuscripts.

While some academics applaud the modernist movement in many universities to treat history and fiction as inherently related fields, there remains a vocal group of traditional historians and literary critics who __________ (i) such ___________(ii) worldview and insist that the __________(iii) nature of the two disciplines must be inviolate.

The question of when, if ever, history can be considered __________(i) is contentious to say the least. One could argue, for example, that any evaluation of the 180-year-old presidency of Andrew Jackson would likely be _________(ii) the controversies that define evaluations of more contemporaneous political leaders, and yet a plethora of passionately held views continue to polarize. The _____________(iii) of any one judgment is perhaps the one certainty surrounding the issue.

The __________(i) state of the city’s public schools certainly demands immediate attention, but it is important that our remedies be thoughtful and comprehensive. While appropriate measures of teacher performance and subsequent accountability will undoubtedly play a vital role in revitalizing our schools, it would be __________(ii) the many other factors at play, factors as widely divergent as the system’s deteriorating physical capital and student’s home lives. Even the most talented teachers are challenged, for example, to ___________(iii) of an unstable or abusive home environment on a student’s ability to learn.

With his relentless energy but equally diminutive attention span, Garlin __________(i) his talents on several potentially exciting but uncompleted projects, much to the dismay of his friends who, while venerating his enthusiasm, ____________(ii) his unfocused nature.