1.   Anyone who buys tickets to a prizefight knows the entertainment is subject to abrupt endings.

2.   Hasselbach said he was mystified by the abrupt ending to a relationship that had lasted half his lifetime.

3.   It was an abrupt ending to a three-year legal battle that raised questions about the leadership and succession problems at Disney under its chairman, Michael Eisner.

4.   The abrupt ending, the solving of the mystery, is a surprise, with little shading and few telltale signs.

5.   Then, just after a turnoff to Sussex, the highway comes to an abrupt ending in a rapid-fire flurry of exits, speed signs, and curve warnings.

6.   They booed and chanted obscenities at the abrupt ending.