31.   Their close partnership is a departure from the relations between others who have held their posts, most notably their immediate predecessors Janet Reno and Louis J. Freeh.

32.   This new one follows in the footsteps of its immediate predecessor, a model that stuck around basically unchanged for seven years.

33.   This team is no better than its immediate predecessors.

34.   Unlike his immediate predecessors, however, he did not set out to find scapegoats for the mess.

35.   Young took the helm in February, and already has outlasted his immediate predecessor, who stayed for two months.

36.   A third consecutive victory in Boston would put her alongside her immediate predecessors, Uta Pippig and Fatuma Roba.

37.   Bill Clinton, for one, has kicked it harder than his two immediate Republican predecessors ever did.

38.   Bush and most of his immediate predecessors gathered under the soaring ceiling of the cathedral.

39.   He changed his mind after a huge money scandal involving his immediate predecessor, Roh, threatened to engulf him.

40.   His immediate predecessor, the late Jean Martinon, had been driven out of town by rebellious musicians and angry critics.