Example sentences of "[noun sg] [vb mod] have [been] a [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | The opportunity should have been a real opportunity of doing something effective . |
| 2 | The result may have been a conflicting programme for pupils . |
| 3 | The general effect must have been a serious breaking-up of the great landed estates of Britain and their redistribution to absentee landlords , apart from those who preferred to move to Britain and take up residence . |
| 4 | The murder must have been a severe shock to her and she would no doubt be deeply concerned over its effect on her husband ; she should have gone to see her yesterday , or at least telephoned . |
| 5 | Head of the Department of the Environment 's science unit , Dick Derwent , who was in Teesside to see the progress , dismissed suggestions that Redcar 's Technical College might have been a better site . |
| 6 | The result would have been a Californian bank second in size only to New York 's Citicorp . |
| 7 | Section 11(1) of the 1977 Act states : 11 – ( 1 ) In relation to a contract term , the requirement of reasonableness for the purposes of this Part of this Act , section 3 of the Misrepresentation Act 1967 and section 3 of the Misrepresentation Act ( Northern Ireland ) 1967 is that the term shall have been a fair and reasonable one to be included having regard to the circumstances which were , or ought reasonably to have been , known to or in the contemplation of the parties when the contract was made . |
| 8 | The decision to split the test may have been a political one . |
| 9 | Johnny Marr 's guitar work may have been a stable basis of listenability but it was Morrissey 's release from years of repressed loser attitudes which made The Smiths so special . |
| 10 | Gough Square was no backwater — Dr. Samuel Johnson had lived there a few years before — and a Gough Square lady must have been a good catch for an impecunious cheesemonger 's son . |
| 11 | The post mortem now states quite categorically that he was not killed by any sort of missile ( the open window must have been a red herring ) . |
| 12 | The two tall oblongs of light from the first-floor drawing-room window should have been a welcoming promise of warmth and comfort . |
| 13 | The old lady would have been a lissome girl , like the girls now coming through the main entrance of the boma , carrying large plastic containers of water on their heads , keeping them in place by a casual touch of the hand . |
| 14 | No doubt the return would have been a high one and I have to take account of that . ’ |
| 15 | If the United States had not been able to run a deficit to finance the investment abroad , one response could have been a lower value of the dollar , more competitive exports and a sufficient trade surplus to finance the overseas investment . |
| 16 | In retrospect , she said , the Budget could have been a great deal worse for disabled people considering what issues had been bandied about in the media recently . |
| 17 | Some of these were obsolete , but one has been identified as belonging to a Babylonian king , the twentieth of the Kassite dynasty , who reigned from 1381 to 1354 B.C. The suggestion has been made that the string may have been a royal gift . |
| 18 | Police believe the weapon may have been a standard cartridge shotgun , specially adapted to fire bullets . |
| 19 | They obviously do n't mean anything to you , so it looks increasingly as if this whole business must have been a dreadful mistake . |
| 20 | Before the sea-walls were built the place must have been a true sea-marsh , largely flooded whenever there was a particularly high tide , with islands of sandy soil bound by the tussocky marram grass defeating the sea here and there . |
| 21 | ‘ Finding your friend 's body must have been a terrible shock for you , ’ he said . |
| 22 | In peacetime the town must have been a sleepy and slow-moving place , but at the start of 1945 it fairly hummed with activity , being surrounded in all directions by RAF and American Air Force stations . |
| 23 | Aesop must have been a keen observer of natural animal rhythms . |
| 24 | Prior to this time it had to travel in cask and the resultant ‘ sparkling ’ wine must have been a sorry product , hardly an advertisement for its quality and reputation . |
| 25 | They love to doss about , as ‘ Busy Bee ’ , which in another era might have been a Lovin' Spoonful song , explains . |
| 26 | It has been suggested that the Bredcroft site might have been a small sub-Roman settlement in the period between the decline of Great Casterton and the growth of Stamford . |
| 27 | Others believed that nervousness over forced repatriation might have been a contributory factor in the incident , following the October 1991 agreement between the United Kingdom and Vietnam [ see p. 38531 ] that any refugees arriving after that date would be returned home . |
| 28 | The big downstairs room might have been a converted cowshed , but when she opened the tall shutters and the sunlight poured in , it looked more like a state apartment . |
| 29 | Mr and Mrs T questioned whether family counselling might have been a better way of dealing with a very complicated situation , or at worst whether an interdict could be placed on the older boys in the W family . |
| 30 | Tatham might have been a natural but Magill had been the achiever in the secret world . |