His company is dangling by a thread. That's the rumor I hear.

My interest in politics is strictly academic.

Two whole pages of the newspaper were devoted to the news of the royal divorce.

The Commerce Department reports retail sales rose seven-tenths of 1 percent last month mainly thanks to strong auto sales.

I read detective stories exclusively.

My success was, for the most part, thanks to his efforts.

My success was largely due to luck.

The factory is keyed to produce men's wear.

Isaac Newton is often referred to as the founder of modern science, but his final years were solely devoted to the study of alchemy.

Forks were used for many years in Europe and the Near East, but only for cooking.

The privilege is reserved exclusively for women.

For a healthy cheerful guy like that to get sick is like the devil getting sunstroke. Everyone is talking about it.

Rows of houses, each of them different and pleasing with their spacious gardens, are replaced by purely functional blocks of flats which have nothing more to commend them than over-praised 'modern conveniences'.

Tom has a reputation for always being late.