Example sentences of "a few [was/were] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Most of them , perhaps , were doctors , government servants of one degree or another ; a few were farmers ( I can think of one , still remembered ) and some were just friends , as I myself have been for the Bakgatia and , I hope , for the whole new country of Botswana . |
| 2 | Armed guards told thousands of people with jobs in the western sector they should not report for work ‘ for the time being ’ , while a few were said to have turned a blind eye as scores of their fellow citizens ran for freedom . |
| 3 | A few were older , many were younger , than I. Some like myself were looking about them . |
| 4 | Quite a few were still fairly young and felt that the pension would be better cashed and put into the farm if they eventually became full-time farmers . |
| 5 | Discussion revealed that women 's interests lay very much with lambing , first aid , dairy husbandry and financial management although quite a few were doubtful about their capacity to cope with the last of these subjects . |
| 6 | A few were connected with neighbouring towers by spidery bridges , 1,000 feet above ravines of deepest blue . |
| 7 | We know that they could live in extremely shallow to very deep-water environments , that most lived on or near the sea bottom , but a few were adapted to open-ocean swimming . |
| 8 | A few were the products of early pre-fabrication techniques , as at Ladson , South Carolina , and many , like American houses , were mobile , capable of being reused in different locations . |
| 9 | A few were thatched , but most had iron or tile roofs . |
| 10 | A few were similar to small stations in southern France , reflecting the control of North African railways by French companies like the Paris-Lyon-Marseille . |
| 11 | A few were unfortunate , they fell in love with Russians . |
| 12 | If the key elements of ‘ owlness ’ were absent , or only a few were present , the birds showed some curiosity about the dummy but were not stimulated to perform the full mobbing response . |
| 13 | It was not officially ‘ discovered ’ until the 1970s , when a few were brought to the United States . |
| 14 | Its teeth were said to be venomous , its flesh poisonous , its hair lethal ( causing suffocation if a few were accidentally swallowed ) , and its breath infectious , destroying human lungs and causing consumption . |
| 15 | From being able to cope just about ) with everyday life they were tipped over the edge into breakdown , from which only a few were able to re-emerge . |
| 16 | The majority of the bodies could not be identified from their remains ; a few were confirmed by dental records , or by jewellery and belongings that survived the blast intact . |
| 17 | A few were in the hands of private companies , but the majority were owned either by the Federal or state governments . |
| 18 | A few were prepared to take big salary cuts and throw away the security of their present employment — others were just grateful for a job or the chance to work on a national . |
| 19 | A few were merely giant heads ; for fashions changed . |
| 20 | A few were damaged , their mechanism jammed or their power supply shorted out . |
| 21 | Quite a few were very upset , they 'd only twelve months to go — it was just like turning them out on the street . |
| 22 | A few were deliberately encouraged , but only where they could further the Institution 's watchdog' function . |
| 23 | Anthropology had begun the slow erosion of certainty of the absolute superiority of European civilization , although only a few were aware of what was happening . |
| 24 | Tear-gas was used against the demonstrators , a few were arrested , and tourists were ordered to stay in their hotels . |
| 25 | Most were delegated by their Churches , a few were especially invited — ‘ as motley a group of ‘ non-Catholics ’ as ever had been assembled' , as Dr Albert Outler , one of their number , described them in ‘ Strangers within the Gates ’ ( see Outler , 1986 , p. 173 ) . |
| 26 | Some who heard him were impressed and a few were frightened . |
| 27 | It was a rough crossing , and most people were rather quiet , and a few were vomiting over the railings and indeed all over the upper-deck , but Clara had never felt better , and the rough lurching seemed to her an added attraction . |
| 28 | The studio was full ; most of the students were painting from the model , a few were drawing from still life . |
| 29 | Quite a few were in the printing and paper trades as folders , envelope makers , envelope stampers etc . |
| 30 | At every stage , therefore , members of the hierarchy were involved in the process of deposing an anointed king : some were coerced by understandable fear ; others , as events unfolded , reluctantly despaired of a peaceful resolution of the conflict any other way than by deposition ; and a few were eager promoters of Isabella 's plans . |