Example sentences of "[was/were] [verb] [prep] a few [noun pl] " in BNC.

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1 During the dispute in 1984 , striking miners travelling in convoy on the motorway in Nottinghamshire were stopped within a few miles of four collieries .
2 Since he had been commissioned in November 1858 , he had ‘ almost wholly devoted ’ himself to the building , and tenders were expected in a few days .
3 The elections were deemed by foreign observers to have been held without widescale irregularities , although cases were reported in a few localities .
4 But I read in an article this morning ( 'Students set to pay full fees ' , 29 September ) that if I were applying in a few years ' time , I would have to ask my parents to pay the full cost of my tuition .
5 The last two — works of completely contrasting character — were written within a few weeks of each other .
6 Originally ascribed to the 1660s it now seems highly likely that they date from the 1630s and were made within a few years of each other .
7 Most of those applications were made in a few weeks .
8 They were persuaded after a few days to go back to far-off Shaanxi province and continue to do their duty in their ‘ adopted rural home ’ .
9 The book was a success : 500,000 copies were sold in a few years , and it was translated into all the major European languages .
10 In the past , the young store cattle were sold after a few months to farmers on the UK mainland but recently the EEC has guaranteed high prices for beef and so many farmers have fattened their calves on their own farms .
11 Jack and Alison were going for a few days to Amsterdam .
12 It was nearly dark when we left Fontanellato and , with no lights about , it was hard to know where we were going after a few kilometres .
13 In other words , we were set for a few laughs .
14 But what he did come to recognise was the inadequacy of existing literature : ‘ I realised that the main writers on history and statistics at the time had done very little research and were relying on a few books .
15 Reductions of between 80 and 93% were achieved within a few weeks .
16 Generally , the operational data ( that is the policy records ) were destroyed within a few years of their fulfilment .
17 As they gathered outside the wire waiting for their guard to open the gate into the camp , they were suspended for a few moments in a sort of limbo .
18 Her eyes were held for a few moments in the lazy gaze across the desk , then with a conscious effort she blinked herself free , looked down at her notepad .
19 If only he could come across a barn in which he could seek refuge from the full force of the gale … but visibility was limited to a few strides .
20 The portrait was painted in a few hours without Modigliani stopping for a single minute . ’
21 ‘ It was the same when he got that job on a building site and was sacked after a few days , although they said there was nothing wrong with his work .
22 However luck was not with us for , as a reward for jumping in the intervals of appalling freezing fog , he got flu as a Christmas present and was delayed for a few days in hospital at Ringway .
23 Suspecting a mild heart attack , his doctor had him admitted to hospital but tests were negative and he was discharged after a few days .
24 This had no very radical consequences : it was dropped after a few years , Diodorus says ( xi.87 ) , because too many of the prominent citizens were thereby discouraged from engaging in political life .
25 It was happening with a few students because I was still teaching for two or three months after ‘ Surfing ’ was released .
26 In July 1980 , AMES staged its first public demonstration , when the El Calvario church was occupied for a few hours to demand a reduction in the price of basic food stuffs .
27 When he came to the surface , by some obscure miracle his leash had held , and his board was bobbing about a few yards away .
28 And , indeed , when Indian ink was daubed on a few minnows , which were then put among a school , the painted minnows were disproportionately taken by predators .
29 The collection from the nest was made within a few days of the fledglings leaving the nest , and the broken up and trampled remains of pellets and bones from the nest can be mostly attributed to the regurgitated pellets of the fledglings .
30 A diary based development and reporting approach was used in a few cases where close contact with the project team was feasible .
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