English Vocabulary in Use: Advanced Book with Answers and Enhanced eBook Vocabulary Reference and Practice 3rd Edition

without a murmur. I was surprised; normally they argue about everything.
Raise your voice can be used in positive or negative contexts:
You’ll have to 
raise your voice a bit. She’s a little hard of hearing. 
[speak louder]
Don’t you 
raise your voice at me! 
[Do not speak in that loud, angry tone.]
Shout, yell, scream, roar and shriek are all followed by at: Don’t shout at me!
Yell often conveys urgency, anger, frustration; it is also used when there is much surrounding noise: 
He 
yelled at the children to stop messing around with his computer.
‘Stay where you are!’ he 
yelled above the noise of the traffic.
Shriek means loud and very high-pitched. It can be used in positive and negative contexts:
‘Oh, wow! That’s fantastic!’ she 
shrieked.
Roar suggests very loud volume, but deeper-pitched, like a lion. It is used in positive and negative 
contexts:
The crowd 
roared as he kicked the ball into the back of the net. 
‘How dare you come in here!’ he 
roared angrily.
Verbs describing speech and styles of conversation
Tom and Lily are always 
nagging (at) each other. 
[criticising faults or duties not done]
Stop 
bickering over who sits by the window, you two! 
[arguing in an irritated way usually about 
something petty; synonym = 
squabble
]
They spent all evening 
slagging off their colleagues. 
[criticising in an insulting way; 
very
 
informal
]
Jessie is always 
whining and whingeing. 
[complaining in an annoying way; 
informal
, negative]
He’s been 
chatting away on the phone all morning. 
[suggests light, non-serious talk; note how 
away
is 
used to emphasise continuous/extended talk]
We always