Example sentences of "[subord] [not/n't] [to-vb] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | The hidden agenda helps to explain although not to justify it . |
| 2 | Ben loved to run along the public footpath through the rape fields , but at times , although not to venture into the field itself , he would often spot a rabbit and give chase . |
| 3 | Most importantly for our purposes , the Recovery of Loans by Banks ( Special provision ) Act 1990 grants to commercial banks , although not to finance companies , the right to parate execution already conferred on state banks . |
| 4 | The legislation gives the police statutory powers for the first time to impose conditions on public meetings ( although not to ban them outright ) . |
| 5 | He then asserted that it was greater to exist than not to exist . |
| 6 | Anselm 's definition is seen as part of a clever philosophical con trick whereby he argues that it is greater for something to exist than not to exist , and thereby that the definition of God ( as the greatest thing conceivable ) demands that He exist ! |
| 7 | So , then , I decided it was better to see the finish than not to finish at all . ’ |
| 8 | Their initial meeting at dinner in Hall was not quite accidental : the nature of the placement was such that strong scholarship candidates were more likely than not to find themselves sitting together . |
| 9 | Doubly authentic , because I have often observed that where , these delicate questions are concerned most listeners are more inclined than not to accept the most improbable of two or three possible explanations for the vagaries of a person 's conduct . |
| 10 | It is much worse to begin too soon , he wrote , than not to begin at all . |
| 11 | In some ways it is better to communicate with the client and say that nothing has happened , than not to communicate with the client because nothing has happened . |
| 12 | Better to have a go and fail than not to have a go at all . ’ |
| 13 | Comments that the ‘ recession is bottoming out ’ seem more often than not to have a hollow ring about them . |
| 14 | It 's better not to have to have pensions than not to have pensions , surely not . |
| 15 | Had he shown himself unambiguously ready to start pulling out , the coalition would have surely had to offer him something , if not to save his face , at least to cover his backside : an American commitment to talk about any Middle Eastern issue whatsoever has already been given ; the call for Iraqi reparations could still be waived . |
| 16 | Why else would there already be the reported droves of tour operators and speculators visiting South Africa , if not to set up the same kind of hospitality package deals that South Africans were forced to buy in 1991 ? |
| 17 | What Freud provides is a workable and , on the whole , convincing hypothesis or model that enables us at least to describe , if not to explain , the workings of the mind — that is , people 's behaviour and people 's creations , such as visual art and literature . |
| 18 | It 's the songs ' incoherence — for who can keep themselves together in a world that 's falling apart — that gives them their power : to hurt , if not to motivate . |
| 19 | Even in her dazed and painful state his imperious , if not to say imperial manner amused as well as annoyed her . |
| 20 | He was studying her , taking in the dark , silky fringe brushed to one side , the golden eyes , long and tilted upwards a little at the outer corners , the straight nose , the generous mouth with its full bottom lip , and the firm , if not to say stubborn , chin . |
| 21 | Indeed , but the impression remains stronger than the denial and one is left wondering why they chose 1950 as the cut-off point , if not to put a comfortable distance between ‘ then ’ and ‘ now ’ : the dark ages of the past and present enlightenment , which they rightly insist is illusory . |
| 22 | Indeed , one could almost sympathise with Neil Kinnock 's strenuous efforts to obliterate , if not to remedy , the worst features of labour 's socialist past . |
| 23 | To include any such anticipatory provision has the merit of bringing home to the individual partners the importance of viewing their involvement in the firm as a long term commitment , which may serve to reduce , if not to eliminate , the pain felt if and when a cash call has to be made . |
| 24 | We were confident of our place in it and of our ability if not to predict at least to handle any untoward eventualities . |
| 25 | Why then have other great apes , such as orang-utans , evolved their mental capabilities , if not to use tools ? |
| 26 | I said what do you have gates for if not to close them ? |
| 27 | What is the point of all that careful breeding with suitable people , all that specialised education and upbringing , if not to produce people who are somehow nobler and more self-sacrificing than the rest of us ? |
| 28 | She would be hard to miss , if not to recognise . |
| 29 | Indeed , these proposals were perceived as a British attempt to delay , if not to subvert , the process towards the creation of a European monetary union . |
| 30 | But what function had the saints in heaven if not to make good the deficiency ? |