Example sentences of "[be] it [that] [pron] [vb mod] [vb infin] " in BNC.

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1 ‘ Oh , you mean how is it that they can afford the pukka style if he is n't successful ? ’
2 Why is it that they should have had more faith ?
3 Why is it that we should want to know things that are , in the broad scheme , totally irrelevant ?
4 Why is it that we can look at organizations which we ourselves have worked in for most of our lives , where we have complained bitterly , where over drinks with our colleagues or at the Christmas pantomime or some other time we have given vent to our irritation at these bad organizational and behavioural characteristics ; and yet when we reach high positions in companies we consider them to be something which is beyond our capability to influence ?
5 So contrasting is it that one may wonder whether its adherents are looking at the same thing at all : ‘ As the eighties unfold , humanity faces a worldwide shortage of productive cropland , acute land hunger in many countries , escalating prices for farmland almost everywhere … ’
6 The problem with it , so far as we can see , is that if the political system is democratic and the state is relatively neutral then how is it that anyone could use the system in such a way as to ensure that it permanently advantaged them to the exclusion of other actors and interests in the system ?
7 How likely is it that he would change his story ?
8 A top-level sprinter could not be a top-level javelin thrower and even less possible is it that he could reach the top in another sport as well .
9 " But , Granny , how likely is it that I should find the keys , if all her people are out already hunting for them ? "
10 Ann Mobbs , what is it that you would like to see in terms of change for men ?
11 Turnout at general elections is seldom more than about 75 per cent so Gallup asked voters : How likely is it that you will go out and vote in the General Election ?
12 Having read the description of A Touch of Frost , how likely is it that you will watch it ?
13 Why is it that you can arrive at an aerodrome ( they do not have the temerity to call them airports , let alone international ) with facilities such as NDBs , localisers , clean eating facilities , tar macadam runways , and where landing fees are minimum ?
14 ‘ Who is it that you can see in the garden ? ’
15 ‘ Whose idea was it that you should live here ? ’
16 How was it that she could tolerate such noise ?
17 Why was it that he could succeed in getting under her skin this way ?
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