1.   And the trainers, straining to find examples of linguistic communication, thought they saw words among the wiggling, like children seeing pictures in the clouds.

2.   Chats with neighboring farmers soon lapsed into silences -- comforting for them, perhaps, but I was always straining to find the next thread of conversation.

3.   I strained to find them.

4.   Olympic viewers are accustomed to network features about athletes that often strain to find the obstacles, family tragedies or melodramatic woes that formed them.

5.   Someone else is mourning the loss of an ordinary Thursday, straining to find some corner of the afternoon that is just its normal self, untouched by formality.

6.   The show is still straining to find its comic tone.

7.   They strain to find interesting things to say about themselves.

8.   They exaggerate flaws, strain to find scandal.

9.   While straining to find the strike zone in the first inning, he walked three batters consecutively, the third of which forced in a run.

10.   You have to strain to find a truly bad Lakers deal.