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 word carries a decided suggestion of hypocrisy. Fulsome suggests such gross flattery as to be annoying or cloying. Smug suggests an effeminate self-satisfaction, usually not justified by merit or achievement.

Assignment for further discrimination:  complaisant, elegant, trim, dapper, spruce, genteel, urbane, well-bred, gracious, affable, benign.

Sentences:  He thought his answer exceedingly brilliant and settled
back into his chair with ____ complacency. “____ the smile that like a
wrinkling wind On glassy water drove his cheek in lines.”  They were
irritated by his ____ praise.  Although he disliked them, he greeted them
with ____ cordiality.  “A bankrupt, a prodigal, ... that used to come so
____ upon the mart; let him look to his bond.” ____ as a diplomat.

Talkative, loquacious, garrulous, fluent, voluble, glib.  (This group may be contrasted with the Silent group, above.)