Example sentences of "[was/were] [v-ing] [adv] [verb] [art] [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Sharpe prayed that the French would go on waiting , and that the British troops who were marching desperately to reinforce the outnumbered defenders at Quatre Bras reached the crossroads in time . |
| 2 | In the third and fourth quarters of 1978 the annualised rate of increase of the Retail Prices Index was only 6.8 per cent and real incomes were rising again following the sharp falls of 1976 and 77 ; unemployment , while still very high by post-war standards , was beginning to fall from its peak in 1977 and job vacancies were on the increase ; the balance of payments current account showed a substantial surplus . |
| 3 | De Gaulle knew that collaborators around the Vichy prime minister Pierre Laval were trying desperately to resuscitate the Third Republic as a way of saving their own skins and forestalling a Gaullist takeover . |
| 4 | Patristic Christology is subtle , for the fathers were trying rightly to express a complex issue . |
| 5 | Soon after I left them , they were working overtime to fulfil a big order , when there was a breakdown . |
| 6 | ‘ I was going home to get a new hearing-aid . |
| 7 | The House of Commons was moving forward to assert a greater degree of control over the colonies than before ; partly to evade this , William created a Board of Trade and Plantations , made up of civil servants and privy councillors , that was unlikely to pay much more attention to the Commons than its predecessor , the Lords of Trade , had done . |
| 8 | Michael Stein was trying unsuccessfully to calm an irate customer who was arguing about his bill . |
| 9 | ‘ But if they 're given money for the food … ’ the Substitute was trying vainly to put a bouncing lighter to his cigar . |
| 10 | Benedicta was trying hard to keep a straight face . |
| 11 | I was trying hard to absorb the bizarre happenings of the day . |
| 12 | He was working hard to complete a special project for Friday , and had already told her he would give her a hand at the weekend . |
| 13 | Dr Rolleston was retiring quietly to let a younger man prepare for what we were beginning to think was inevitable . |