Example sentences of "[prep] [adv] [adj] as a [noun sg] " in BNC.

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1 They get between me and my patients , at any time , for so much as a nanosecond , and they 're out , I do n't care what it does to their scheduling . ’
2 I have seldom , before or since , seen a man spend so much time with his car , be so obsessive about it , put so much work into it , understand it so well and be so unable to divert his attention from it for so much as a minute .
3 The questions she had feared earlier seemed to be taking physical shape in the shadowy corners of the room , phantoms waiting to trap her if she dropped her guard for so much as a second .
4 The little history of the period that has survived is an invaluable asset , but there are great dangers in using archaeological data to elucidate chronologically-based historical problems when the span of as little as a generation is so crucial .
5 After an incision through the skin of as little as a centimetre long , a device known as an ultrasound probe and laser fibres are inserted directly into the centre of the tumour .
6 Hydrogen you can think of very much as a fuel in the manner of north sea gas and it 's got a high calorific value , it burns well and , despite rumours , it 's actually a very safe fuel as well .
7 Although I could n't wait to leave school once and for all so I could join Granpa permanently , if I ever played truant for as much as an hour he would n't take me to watch West Ham on Saturday afternoon or , worse , he 'd stop me selling on the barrow in the morning .
8 EC beef exported to west Africa sells for as little as a quarter of the price shoppers in Britain must pay .
9 For as little as a copper coin , I will utter a howl guaranteed to wake the dead . ’
10 Niall Grant was about as vulnerable as a shark !
11 These arteries are about as wide as a drinking straw and they can all too easily become partially blocked with deposits of atheroma , a pasty mixture of cholesterol and cells .
12 In sporting terms , it was about as relevant as a showing of Treasure Hunt or Interceptor — the TV game shows which have occupied her recently .
13 We suggest that six is about as many as an observer can cope with .
14 You 're about as helpless as a hurricane . ’
15 It was about as long as an arm .
16 In this real world context , which will powerfully affect Britain , Mr Smith 's ‘ luvvie ’ proposals are about as useful as a powder puff to a man with chronic heart disease .
17 ‘ Steve Lavalle is about as spiritual as a traffic bollard , and four times less intelligent — and you know it . ’
18 I get about as pissed as a bloke can .
19 In the press , in the House of Commons , in reports to government departments and in popular folklore there emerged the evacuee stereotype — a dirty , lice-ridden and foul-mouthed urchin who wet the bed with monotonous regularity , preferred fish and chips to a proper three-course meal and was about as domesticated as a wildcat ; similarly , the evacuee mother appeared as a negligent slut , impossible to live with and having the vocabulary of a Billingsgate fish porter .
20 It is the Alpine 's bizarre , clap-hands windscreen wipers which would do Heath Robinson proud with the unnecessary complexity of their design and engineering and , in the matter of clearing rain , are about as effective as a Government promise to bring more civil service jobs to Scotland .
21 For emotional resonance , flags are about as potent as a quadrilateral of cloth can be .
22 The same applies to Scrash , although they 're about as glamorous as a donkey on Skegness beach and marginally less attractive .
23 The Volkswagen Passat was about as glamorous as a visit to the supermarket , which was what it was principally used for .
24 That was about as welcome as a stick of shit in the tub-water .
25 Tax is about as popular as a trip to the dentist or a dose of malaria .
26 It 's pretty unlikely that this session will ever see the light of day on Strange Fruit , as the label 's last Wah release ‘ The Mighty Wah ’ proved about as popular as a motorway scheme through Kew Gardens .
27 Kiss is about as valid as a football game ; it 's a release , a chance for people to forget about their problems for a couple of hours , get together in some celebration and loose off some pent-up energy .
28 It looks like something a navvy might use to dig roads up — thin , hollow metal tube , about as thick as a size 10 knitting needle , with a gimlet-like plunger .
29 Pete did n't know whether to duck or run , and the choice was fairly academic anyway , as for the moment his body seemed to be about as responsive as a sack of rocks .
30 You are about as pliable as a lump of granite .
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