Example sentences of "[was/were] [pron] but an " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Indeed , one had only to go to Rhodesia to see the ample supply of consumer goods in the shops from every part of the world to realise that sanctions were nothing but an empty farce , and that the claim that they were going to bring Mr Ian Smith to his knees was a total fraud . |
| 2 | they were nothing but an excuse for idleness ; twelve hours being too many for a man to work underground without intermission . |
| 3 | Although very much the ‘ poor commons ’ paying for the most part a 5 per cent tax on their goods , they were anything but an undifferentiated whole . |
| 4 | His death was nothing but an absurd , ludicrous accident . |
| 5 | This was nothing but an elaborate hoax perpetrated by her in revenge for all the suffering I had caused her . |
| 6 | Next morning the whole village was nothing but an island in a lake of rain . |
| 7 | Even in terms of his own quite awesome power he was nothing but an underling in relation to his superior . |
| 8 | Steel City : from inside it was nothing but an overcrowded nexus of radials smelling of close-pressed bodies and metal and chemicals . |
| 9 | There was nothing but an old , rickety fence between the playground and the water . |
| 10 | The hand had the warmth of personal feeling , whereas the theatrical sigh with which she said her last words was nothing but an actressy trick from a bad radio play . |
| 11 | Sometimes her common sense still told her it was nothing but an invention for dirtying three times as many dishes , this business of frying and parboiling , and moving things from plate to plate . |
| 12 | The newspaper was anything but an ‘ independent ’ , ‘ responsible ’ , ‘ oppositional/adversarial ’ force in society ; it was a politically committed and attached organ . |