Keeping the meeting within bounds
Read for meaning first. Select a highlighted word if you want a closer look.
A volunteer committee spent a protracted evening discussing a festival booth. The chair decided to circumscribe the next meeting's scope: members would settle the location and staffing, while decorative details could wait. She also proposed a time limit to curtail repeated arguments. The goal was to reach a usable decision without preventing anyone from raising a relevant concern.
The agenda helped circumscribe the discussion by making the two required decisions visible from the start. When the debate became protracted again, the chair summarized the remaining disagreement and asked for a specific alternative. That question helped curtail repetition without cutting off new information. The committee settled the staffing plan and recorded one unanswered question about the booth's location.
Before you move on
Look away from the passage. Can you explain each focus word in your own words?
Original fictional passages for vocabulary practice.