1.   After an awkward pause, Ray began to answer my question.

2.   An awkward pause swelled in the room.

3.   Some people in the audience tittered nervously during an awkward pause in the speech.

4.   There was an awkward pause in the conversation.

5.   An awkward pause.

6.   An awkward pause followed.

7.   Awkward pause.

8.   In Atlanta or Boston, in Houston or Miami, awkward pauses and disagreements renew the long, uncomfortable relationship between the national pastime and the national enigma.

9.   There can be awkward pauses when you point to a portrait and confess your literary ignorance to Virginia Dajani, the executive director of the Academy.