A warning and a tangled problem
Read for meaning first. Select a highlighted word if you want a closer look.
Three unanswered messages from the venue manager seemed ominous to the organizers of a weekend craft fair. When they learned that the hall would be unavailable, they faced a predicament: vendors were arriving in two days, and no replacement space had been confirmed. The search became a quagmire when each available room depended on another booking being moved first. Talia began listing those dependencies so the group could see which decisions might release them from the tangled situation.
The earlier silence had been ominous because it suggested trouble, though it had not revealed exactly what would happen. Their current predicament required a usable venue, not a debate about who should have predicted every difficulty. To escape the booking quagmire, Talia asked each location for one clear answer about availability and requirements. The resulting list showed that a smaller hall could work if the group reduced the number of stalls and offered some vendors a later date.
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.