Thursday, May 7, 2026

Check Your Vocabulary

 Complete the sentences.

carjack

cattail

fender

scaffolding

shove

slew

stammer

SWAT team

unsub

1. Is the ___ recent?

2. Starting out pleased and approving, he rounded the hood and drew up short when he came upon the left ___.

3. The unsub, described as twentysomething, tall Hispanic man, was believed to have ____ a woman on a street nearby -taking off with the victim's vehicle and her child, who was in a car seat in the back.

4. I was ____ to the ground, but I'm okay.

5. After a perimeter had been established by the Merced County Sheriff's Echo 1 helicopter was deployed to help in the search for the suspect and rescue of young Gabriel Dunne.

6. While the ____ was nowhere to be found, Gabriel was left unharmed, still his car left.

7. When Lex stopped at the water's edge, barking vociferously, Isaih caught up to him and spotted what looked to be a person, almost totally underwater, amidst blackberry bushes and ____.

8. "We have Alphonse Olivarez in custody," Isaih reported to her satisfyingly, while noting that the suspect faced a ____ of serious charges, including murder, robbery, carjacking and the kidnapping of a child.

9. Westnick Hall really was magnificent even covered in ____ as the work Lorenti's recent investment had made possible got underway.

Key: 1. stammering; 2. fender; 3. carjacked; 4. shoved; 5. SWAT team; 6. unsub; 7. cattail; 8. slew; 9. scaffolding





Friday, May 1, 2026

Check Your Vocabulary

 Fill in gaps.

agile

deploy

fluster

gingerly

mundane

on pins and needles

safe and sound

vociferous-vociferously

1. Thank goodness for that much, Isaih told himself, ____ at the thought of the carjacking.

2. After a perimeter had been established by the Merced County Sheriff's Office, working with the Lodren Creek Police Departments, a SWAT team was called in and an Airbus H-125 Echo 1 helicopter was ___ to help in the search for the suspect and rescue of young Gabriel Dunne.

3. Isaiah had voluntarily joined the mission with his canine partner, intent on doing whatever could be done to bring Gabriel back to his mother ___.

4. As Isaiah lifted him from the car, he asked the frightened little boy ____, to be sure, "Are you okay, buddy?"

5. Sensing the armed suspect was hiding somewhere, Isaih took out his weapon and then le Lex loose, believing that the ___ and skilled Begian Malinois would have the element of surprise and fear on his side.

6. When Lex stopped at the water's edge, barking ____, Isaiah caught up to him and spotted what looked to be a person, almost totally underwater, amidst blackbeery bushes and cattails.

7. After being ____ with worry, Tamara was happily reunited with Gabriel at her sister's house.

8. By writing about the admittedly ____ details of my subjects' daily lives -when they slept and ate and worked and worried - I hoped to provide a novel angle on their personalitties and careers, to sketch entertaining small- bore portraits of the artist as a creature of habit.

Key: 1. flustered; 2. deployed; 3. safe and sound; 4. gingerly; 5. agile;6. voceferously; 7. on pins and needles; 8. mundane