1.   If the market comes to perceive the dollar as unsafe, a much sharper rise in interest rates will be unavoidable.

2.   Wagner, the director of Community Advocates, said he expected sharper rises in reports of child abuse and neglect.

3.   Any increase in oil prices would therefore cause a proportionally sharper rise in prices Americans must pay at the pump.

4.   In the past three years, though costs have been cut slightly, the company witnessed a sharper rise in sales.