Example sentences of "[noun] had [been] trying " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Old Stopfordians ' Association had been trying for many years to raise sufficient money to build the Pavilion , and indeed had sold the Harrison Towns field some three years previously for this very reason . |
| 2 | Bella had been trying to push the walking-frame along and carry the tea at the same time . |
| 3 | Whoever was driving the car had been trying to kill her , it was as simple as that . |
| 4 | Although a number of influential parties had been trying to have New Year 's flay changed from the old style 13th of the month to 1st , the majority of the natives were loath to change and both days were partially observed . |
| 5 | With a shortage of money , Mr Eyton-Jones 's department had been trying to ensure there was no serious disruption to buildings , closure or breaches of the law . |
| 6 | They also took private papers relating to the large South Ronaldsay family Mr and Mrs T had been trying to help , and a library book written by a social worker on sexual abuse . |
| 7 | Pepita had been trying to remember the events that led up to being bitten by the black widow spider . |
| 8 | As the storm raged about them , the bier unaccountably broke and the corpse tumbled into a meadow the bailiff had been trying to extort . |
| 9 | Was that what Carol had been trying to tell him ? |
| 10 | For about four centuries the rulers of England had been trying to conquer and rule France , Scotland , and Ireland , but they had just lost their last foothold in France at Calais , their position in Ireland was as insecure as it had ever been , and the Scottish problem had taken an altogether new turn because Mary the Queen of Scotland could present a good claim to the English throne . |
| 11 | An investigation by the Japanese Fisheries Agency concluded in an announcement by the Foreign Ministry that the dolphins had committed a " mass suicide " from which local fisherman had been trying to save them by driving them back into the sea . |
| 12 | Also because Susan Hart had been trying to reach me through my office . |
| 13 | To offer a perhaps extreme example , the Gloucestershire clothiers who celebrated the completing in 1779 – 82 of the Stroudwater Canal had been trying since 1730 to intercept the coal supplies moving down the Severn from the pits of the Midlands . |
| 14 | My head was n't really in the right state for assimilating all this stuff , but as far as I could gather , Uncle Rory had been trying for years to come up with something Creative ( his capital , his italics ) . |
| 15 | Helen had been trying to learn for some time , but she found it very hard although Tony was endlessly patient with her . |
| 16 | Sylvia had been trying for years to overcome her claustrophobia , but with little or no success . |
| 17 | Durham ambulancemen had been trying to raise £2,000 to fly the 11-year-old youngster from Transylvania . |
| 18 | The ancient Egyptians had been trying for centuries to prevent the export of their sacred felines . |
| 19 | Soviet propaganda had been trying , since 1946 , to portray the Western powers as wanting to divide Germany . |
| 20 | Chris [ Stocks ] was a little surprised to say the least when he arrived home from his holiday to be told that The sun newspaper had been trying to contact him , asking him to go to London to play a practical joke on the king of practical jokers Chris Evans . |
| 21 | For several years BR had been trying to persuade the government to authorise the East Coast main line electrification ; after considerable discussion this was eventually agreed in July 1984 . |
| 22 | The whole thing went undiscussed throughout 1982 , though people had been trying to have it discussed since they came back from their holidays in 1981 . ’ |
| 23 | The journalist Robert Katz had been trying to interest producers in a film adaptation of his extensive account last year in Esquire magazine of the battle between Willem de Kooning and his daughter . |
| 24 | The manager had been trying to set himself up in the Business when he knew full well that Clive had the franchise . |
| 25 | Two fur traders from the French settlement of New France on the banks of the St. Lawrence had been trying to convince their employers that the best way to develop the trade was to set up bases on Hudson Bay to which the Indians could come in their canoes down all the rivers that flowed into the Bay . |
| 26 | Sullivan then surrendered the embassy and opened the steel doors to the second floor of the chancery , which the attackers had been trying to batter down . |
| 27 | Peter had been trying to prove they should have left him behind ; it had been his father 's idea that he should go , needing the practice if he was ever to go hunting . |
| 28 | ‘ There were claw marks up the bank side where the badgers had been trying to get out . ’ |
| 29 | Folly had been trying not to think about that particular angle of her revenge . |
| 30 | She was still weak from her miscarriage and the journey had been trying . |