| 1. | "Ah I am all right," said gruff Old Orlick. - from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens |
| 2. | "Hillo hillo, there" said a gruff voice, in reply. - from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe |
| 3. | "Oh ah" he returned, with something like a gruff laugh. - from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens |
| 4. | I say, one and all," he added with gruff charity and turning to Mr. - from Dubliners by James Joyce |
| 5. | A gruff squire on horseback with shiny topboots. - from Ulysses by James Joyce |
| 6. | Defarge looked gloomily at his wife, and gave no other answer than a gruff sound of acquiescence. - from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens |
| 7. | Fairfax's voice, and Leah's, and the cook's--that is, John's wife--and even John's own gruff tones. - from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte |
| 8. | "I hope there ain't, but I can't make so 'Nation sure of that," said the guard, in gruff soliloquy. - from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens |
| 9. | "Yes, John likes me, I think, and of course Evie, for all her gruff ways, wouldn't be unkind to a fly. - from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie |