1.   If the Ames strain was similarly old, experts said, it is conceivable that the potent germs were distributed far more widely than conventional wisdom holds.

2.   Is the team underachieving, as the conventional wisdom holds, and likely to click in the second half?

3.   Teen-agers, traditional wisdom holds, are sullen, prickly creatures, prone to mood swings and sudden outbursts of temper.

4.   The end of the Cold War, the common wisdom holds, was a historical watershed.