Example sentences of "[verb] not so [adv] a [noun sg] " in BNC.
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| 1 | As usually happens , the ‘ sponsorship role ’ of the Electricity Division led to Murray becoming not so much a controller of the industry as an honest broker between the BEA and the Whitehall machine in general . |
| 2 | When the economic crisis became severe , community mobilization became not so much a question of participation in decision-making as practical support to keep schools and education projects going . |
| 3 | He became not so much a propagandist as a radio ‘ character ’ who had been created by a darker comedy than Tommy Handley 's ITMA . |
| 4 | The ten-year programme represents not so much a strategy for growth ; it is more a guess at the government 's ability to rein in the booming provinces of the southern coast and the Yangtze delta . |
| 5 | His treatment of the " Alliterative Revival " is in some ways reminiscent of earlier treatments which argue that later alliterative writing in English reflects not so much a continuation of OE principles ( which language-change would in any case have made unlikely ) , but a re-invention from a tradition of alliterative prose-writing which began with AElfric . |
| 6 | It is worth speculating on whether , from the locals ' point of view , the proliferation of village organizations reflects not so much a flourishing of community life as a symbol of its downfall . |
| 7 | However , as the belief in metaphysical realism declined in the nineteenth century in favour of more nominalist , relativist or generally hesitant views of knowledge , the concept of a liberal education seemed to lose its firm epistemological foundation and become not so much a theory of knowledge as a theory of ignorance . |
| 8 | The return of rock means not so much a crashdown as a return towards rock , a departure from planet pop to a self-sufficiency that matches pop . |
| 9 | Bowe poses not so much a riddle as two straightforward questions : Does he have the heart , stamina and experience to match Holyfield 's over 12 rounds ? |
| 10 | He urged his horse forward to the very edge of the moat , for he had not so loud a voice as his nephew . |
| 11 | Catherine , Mary noted , was especially quick to challenge George 's generalisations by reference to a local situation : Mary herself kept not so much a watch as a guard over Hope 's words . |
| 12 | In fact the new GS-400 family represent not so much a step , as a dangling of toes into the water — the machine 's guts come from Intel Systems , which the company then ‘ Elonex-ises ’ . |