lans, and the like. These are _reticent_. Others are
disinclined--and habitually, we perceive--to talking. These are
_taciturn_.

_Sentences_: The ____ prisoner evaded all questions. He was as ____
as nature itself; he never gave his views upon any subject. He was ____
about the firm's affairs, especially toward persons who seemed
inquisitive. We knew there had been a love affair in his life, but he was
____ on the subject. She sat ____ throughout the discussion. If to be ____
is golden, Lucas should have been a billionaire.

<Sing, chant, carol, warble, troll, yodel, croon, hum, chirp,
chirrup>.

You hear a "concord of sweet sounds," not instrumental but vocal, and wish
to tell me so. You say that some person _sings_. Then you recall that
I am something of an expert in music, and you cast about for the word that
shall state specifically the kind of singing that is being done. Does the
person sing solemnly in a more or less uniform tone? You tell me that he
_chants_. Does he sing gladly, spontaneously, high-spiritedly, as if
his heart were pouring over with joy? You say that he _carols_. Does
he sing with vibratory notes and little runs, as in bird-music? You say
that he _warbles_. Does he sing loudly and freely? You say that he
_trolls_. Does he sing with peculiar modulations from the regular
into a falsetto voice? You say that he _yodels_. Does he sing a
simple, perhaps tender, song in a low tone (as a lullaby to an infant)?
You say that he _croons_. Does he sing with his lips closed? You say
that he _hums_. Does he utter the short, perhaps sharp, notes of
certain birds and insects? You say that he _chirps_ or
_chirrups_.

_Assignment for further discrimination_: <trill, pipe, quaver,
peep, cheep, twitter>.

_Sentences_: A cricket ____ in the grass outside the door. He
abstractedly gazed out of the window and ____ a few strains of an old
song. Listen, they are ____ the Te Deum. "And ____ still dost soar, and
soaring ever ____." A strange, uncanny blending of false and true notes it
is when the Swiss mountaineers are ____. Negroes, as a race, love to
____. As she soothes the child to sleep she ____ a "rock-a-bye-baby."

<Suave, bland, unctuous, fulsome, smug>.

_Suave_ implies agreeable persuasiveness or smooth urbanity.
_Bland_ suggests a soothing or coaxing kindness of manner, one that
is sometimes lacking in sincerity. _Unctuous_ implies excessive
smoothness, as though one's manner were oiled. The wor