1. I am sorry, Russell. You are fired. It's nothing personal — you are just not making the .......... around here. You haven't met your performance objectives, once, in the last six months, Shelly, his boss, told him.

2. I am sorry, Joe. We are forced to lay people off and you didn't make the .......... . We are going to offer you three month's pay to help with the transition to another job, Shelly told him.

3. It is sometimes embarrassing to go out with my best friend. He is such a .......... . He brags to everyone about how fast he goes on his motorcycle — like anyone cares, Chris said to Linda.

4. I hate when a friend asks me to .......... the wheels at a place I work so that he/she can get a job. I don't like anyone's actions to unfavorably affect me, Jim said to Ellis.

5. Can you let your wife pick the paint for your new house? I know that you don't really care about what color the place is but it means a great .......... to her, George's sister said to him.

6. I have no hope of being elected school president of the college. The other candidate has the .......... power behind him. I don't have the money to throw big parties and to put up flyers, Matt told Elizabeth.

7. When he was drafted into the army, his school career .......... to a halt. When he got back from his long deployment, he meant to go back to school but ended up finding a job and working instead.

8. I am sorry. I don't want to go to the seafood restaurant. The smell of fish grosses me .......... . Is there any other place you two would be willing to go? Sarah asked George and Jessica.

9. Before you all start construction, I have to lay down some .......... rules. Everyone here will wear eye protection at all times and no one will lift anything over 50 lbs. without assistance. Can anyone here think of anything else? The foreman asked the crew.

10. I didn't like this apartment when we first moved in but it is beginning to .......... on me, Laurie told her husband.