At times, Martha Frankel could be not merely formidable, but outrageous, asking Anne Rice if she and her husband, Stan Rice, had engaged in one of the sexual practices Ms. Rice wrote about in the S-and-M novels she published under pseudonyms.
Meanwhile, the New York Times' formidable Maureen Dowd was asking "Is Rice cooked?" in her op-ed column, stating: "Some have wondered if Rice, who has a bull-in-a-china-shop reputation, is diplomatic enough for the top diplomatic job".
If Sheers has set himself a formidable task in asking us to care about a merchant banker, he has a somewhat easier task with the likable Michael, an innocent thrust by circumstances into a form of grieving usually reserved for the old.
Yet, when his large eyes fix on you, he becomes more worldly and formidable; his stare seems to ask, "Are you serious?" At times, he is unexpectedly impish, even antic.
Given these formidable odds, one would logically ask (and many have): Why have we bothered to run as petition candidates in what has essentially been a popularity contest?
As this stress continued, day after day, I truly began to feel that, because of the law, Darren and our family were possibly facing yet another formidable force - 'Don't Ask, Don't Tel . The possible repercussions of this law were a true threat, and our family lived with this every day".
How, you ask, will even this formidable figure achieve such a titanic goal?
Malta has more formidable terrain than many small islands (just ask the Ottomans, or the Nazis) and laden with history and culture, as well as blue Mediterranean skies.
We could ask the same question about May's dealings with the formidable Nicola Sturgeon in Edinburgh, but not today.
Out driving one evening, he gestured toward a formidable brick building and asked what it was.
The formidable pianist Ursula Oppens then asked the poet Brian Philip Katz to read "Falling," his poem that inspired the composer Amy Williams's piano piece of the same title, which Ms. Oppens played beautifully.
