Example sentences of "[pron] [vb past] been [v-ing] a [adj] " in BNC.

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1 I 'd been expecting a great hall with a giant round table , towering turrets , a moat and a drawbridge , but , of course , it turned out to be a ruin .
2 I 'd been writing a monthly column for Options as long as I 'd been writing at all .
3 If I 'd been doing a pukka delivery , I could just have carried straight on virtually due north and come to City Road .
4 I 'd been applying a special cream to his ankles which was supposed to harden the skin , but it did n't seem to do much good .
5 I have no compass to tell me what I am destined for ; and yet , when I look back , everything seems to fit as well together as if I 'd been following a benevolent daimon all along …
6 He turned out to be an inspector of taxes with whom I had been conducting a mini back-duty enquiry and which was in the concluding stages .
7 I had been swimming a long time that first Sunday , far out in the bay , and he could easily have slipped the things on to the Bourani end of the beach while I was in the water .
8 In those days I had been doing a good deal of drawing ; and , having come under Wyndham Lewis 's influence , I took my Vorticist efforts round to the Master , and , to my surprise , I found that he thought quite well of them .
9 Giovanna 's husband acquired a long garden cane , which had been supporting a tottering mallow , and with it established the depth .
10 Then they went back to camp and the only person there was Miguel the interpreter , who 'd been having a long conversation with one of the Indians and when he turned round all the other Indians had scarpered .
11 All the better that the operation rehabilitated the credibility of the police who 'd been having a bad press in the early years of the decade .
12 She had been wearing a light cotton shirt with a dark blue skirt .
13 I was sure she had been holding a small phial with the letters ‘ SUL ’ written on it .
14 She had been expecting a small , dusty room filled with paintings draped in cloths that were thick with dust , where air would have a musty scent of old canvas and decay .
15 She is seen to suffer for what she did , and Mary , the other sister , likewise ‘ paid heavily ’ : let down by an Indian student with whom she had been having a long affair .
16 She claimed she had been having a passionate affair with Mary Jo 's husband Joey , 36 .
17 She had been having a little innocent fun .
18 True to the word , she had been adding a full bottle to her small garden pond on a weekly basis , for the past month .
19 She had been rehearsing a new song on the way to the Ritz , but did n't know who wrote it .
20 At this point the young man , who had been reading a folded newspaper , looked up and said in a slightly truculent voice , ‘ Excuse me , madam , but that 's my pudding you 're about to eat . ’
21 Meanwhile the warden 's cat , who had been enjoying a light snack in the dustbin , saw Emily , saw the milk , and that is all I can remember , it happened so quickly .
22 For this search I teamed up with two young friends , both experienced detector users , who had been searching a nearby farm and thus knew the area well .
23 Henri reached the cave mouth first , shortly followed by Mait , Carrefour , and finally Richmann , who had been keeping a rear guard .
24 Susan , who had been working a local boarding kennel where she was particularly involved with Bernese Mountain and German Shepherd dogs , has two Great Danes of her own called Buddy and Holly !
25 It had already been decided that Hayling was to remain as chief executive , and everyone who had been doing a specific job for the company was invited to carry on .
26 ‘ You mean , someone who had been having a lesbian affair with Eddie ?
27 After hearing that they had been attending a high school graduation party , they were released by the judge on the condition that they were each driven to their parents ' home exactly as they appeared in court — with only a blanket for
28 One moment they had been crossing a burning glade of shoulder-high grass in the full glare of the sun and the next they descended abruptly into a dark , silent , mysterious world where the air was cool and moist , the earth soft and spongy underfoot , and dazzling orchids blazed suddenly among the deep green undergrowth .
29 Most of the ‘ masters ’ of torture said that they had been fighting a desperate unseen war , whose atmosphere could not be imagined by people from democracies .
30 He also told police he 'd been copying a homosexual video tape .
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