Example sentences of "were at [adj] " in BNC.

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1 Many hundred meeting places were at ancient sites in the landscape like barrows or stones , where they could have taken place for millennia , while others were at places which had other functions as well , such as centres of royal or ecclesiastical estates which coincided with hundredal arrangements .
2 Individual ‘ members of staff ( some of the pupils ) were at separate desks with small queues ‘ waiting their turn ’ .
3 Well although it was so near , it was really a mining district and ninety percent of the boys We were at separate schools by the way , the ground floors were boys , from the age of seven upwards , till fourteen .
4 ‘ When we went away interest rates were at 13 per cent , ’ Sir Ranulph commented unprompted .
5 Who 'd have believed , I were at other night right ?
6 By 1989 fund-raising and the general economy were at such a position that a ‘ Go ’ decision was either to be made , or it would never happen .
7 ‘ Of those , at least 25,000 were at such a desperate level of starvation that they would have died had the food reached them any later .
8 Some feared the use of the schools by proselytizers to indoctrinate the children in protestant principles , especially as the local managers were at first mainly clergy of the established church .
9 Understanding in this sense means being able to perceive structure amongst a set of observations that were at first sight perplexing and confusing .
10 In their rural isolation Belorussian peasants were at first little affected by anti-religious campaigns and actions emanating from the towns , even if priests disappeared and churches were commandeered .
11 Relations between Mrs Thatcher and the new Irish Fianna Fáil premier , Charles Haughey , were at first tense .
12 Some ministers were at first embarrassed at what they regarded as her ‘ preaching ’ and ‘ moralizing ’ but in the end accepted it as part of the Thatcher style .
13 The city or suburban dwellings of the new class were at first too small to accommodate the extended family .
14 Donning a yarmulke , he promised a Jewish group that ‘ we 'll keep a glatt [ strict ] kosher kitchen at the White House , ’ a pledge that his aides were at first unsure whether to treat as a jest or for real .
15 They did not wear much in the way of body protection or helmets ( early Frankish shield bosses were at first classified as helmets by early archaeologists ) .
16 Her activities were at first regarded with suspicion by headmistresses of local schools , so , to placate those who did not outright forbid their pupils to attend , she described her lessons as rhythmic exercises to music .
17 At Diego Garcia Island , 3,647 kilometres away ( in the Indian Ocean ) , the sounds of the explosions were at first thought to be coming from a ship in distress , firing its guns to attract attention , so the people ran out to vantage points on the coast of the island to try to see it .
18 Consequently in the western world diamonds were at first not regarded as objects of beauty — other stones such as emeralds and red garnets were preferred .
19 It is probably true to say that these new sensations were at first quite undetected , as such , by himself .
20 While this was a good thing , such improvements were at first only superficial , and it was a long time before everyday living conditions in deaf boarding institutions and day classes were of acceptable standard .
21 Just as the new conceptual artists have more passion than they were at first credited with , so many of the new painters amount to more than the sum of their supposed influences .
22 Brian : ‘ We were at first .
23 These troops , clearly oblivious to danger , were at first thought to be a Dutch contingent , and had come so close that the Bren gunner could fire only two magazines before grenades knocked out his weapon .
24 Her body was found by a man walking along the beach at Reculver , near Herne Bay , on February 28 but Kent police were at first unable to identify her .
25 Despite its official view that all states , republican as well as monarchic , were equally repressive and repugnant , its members were at first by no means implacably hostile to a regime which promised
26 The paintings were at first estimated at FFr4–5 million by Paris expert Eric Turquin and their sale was planned to help purchase a scanner for the hospital .
27 Sweating remained , child labour survived , and reformers could still find terrible poverty to expose , but improving conditions meant rising expectations , even though these were at first limited to a few .
28 The so-called ‘ Palace Style ’ amphoras were at first made and used only at Knossos itself , which strongly suggests that they were made for the use of the ruling elite .
29 The author of the Vindiciae similarly asserts that since " none were ever born with crowns on their heads and sceptres in their hands , and [ since ] no man can be a king by himself , nor reign without a people … it must of necessity follow , that kings were at first constituted by the people . "
30 It has been suggested that the paranotal lobes of insects were at first connected with epigamic behaviour ( Alexander and Brown , 1963 ) but it is perhaps more likely that they were associated with locomotion from the beginning .
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