Example sentences of "[adv] have been [art] [adj] [noun] " in BNC.

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1 As this met the requirements of the hotel , serving customers would merely have been a needless waste of effort and resources which could be profitably siphoned off elsewhere .
2 But even at this date the alteration in emphasis can only have been a conscious attempt to attune to the wider audience , if still at that time mainly within Bavaria , which was beginning to show interest in Hitler in 1923 , and an awareness that anti-Marxism had a wider potential appeal than the mere repetition of anti-Jewish paroxysms of hate .
3 The most important would obviously have been the particular use of a vessel in the pantry or kitchen , on the dining table , or for drinking .
4 Driving through London in a strange car , even on a Sunday evening , would normally have been a terrifying prospect .
5 Their progress was hampered by the vast crowds and the cars that thronged what would normally have been a clear area but people soon scattered from their path as with lights flashing and sirens wailing they forged ahead .
6 Since a great proportion of them were engaged in growing corn and other basic needs of life , there must already have been a considerable proportion of the European population who needed to be fed by the labour of others .
7 A dumb Brummie , a tough-nut Geordie , a light-fingered Scouser , a cheeky Cockernee — it could so easily have been a clichéd mess .
8 These young people were not only happy they were roaring drunk and there could easily have been a double inquest with that other young man .
9 It could just as easily have been a refused request to come home late or stay the night at a friend 's house .
10 And it could so easily have been a suicidal career move .
11 This could so easily have been a recommendable mid-price set of Mozart 's mature Piano and Violin Sonatas , but it is arguably put out of court by the early digital recording ( made between 1975 and 1978 ) which gives the violin an unpleasant rough edgy tone .
12 This was an unreasonable wish since it was not clear that such a leader would be available and the effect of defeat might as easily have been an undesirable fudging of economic issues and a gerrymandering of constitutional issues .
13 Thin , slope-shouldered , raincoated and thoroughly inconspicuous , he could easily have been an innocent Sunday evening wayfarer , but for the fact that Harry was now convinced he was not .
14 The smell , coming from the rear of a building , might easily have been the unpleasant odour given off by a dustbin in need of emptying .
15 There can hardly ever have been a tougher time to persuade banks to part with their money .
16 Liveseys ' would only ever have been the first rung of the ladder , to him . ’
17 If the wage rate had fallen , say , by 10% and the total employment had increased , as a result , by 5% , there would still have been a net 5% loss in total labor income .
18 This hypothesis does not seem to have a lot going for it because , at the time Matthew — or whoever — was writing , there would still have been a few people around who could say something like I do n't remember any star ! ' )
19 According to the singularity theorems of classical general relativity , there would still have been a big bang singularity .
20 In North Worcestershire also industrial growth made little or no visible impact on the structure of wealth , possibly because a man 's position in the rural hierarchy determined his choice of trade , In Yardley tile making had evolved as a major activity early in the fifteenth century ; along with tanning , which may still have been the principal industry in nearby Birmingham , it was practised by farmer-craftsmen , who mostly had well under £20 in goods , the £3 — £9 range forming a good two-thirds of the list : Thomas Walton , whose £11 was the highest assessment , made tiles and practised cooperage in winter .
21 There could hardly have been a greater contrast than that between Kennedy and his successor .
22 As they stood together there could hardly have been a greater contrast .
23 There could hardly have been a clearer contrast between the raw truth and the glossy image .
24 She recovered — though the royal nursery in Linlithgow can hardly have been a peaceful place , with its occupant combining convalescence with the more normal infant problem of teething ; but she was entirely well by the time Sadler saw her again , in early August .
25 As an example to the world that the young were powerful , that money was not the be-all and end-all , Apple could hardly have been a bigger failure .
26 He would hardly have been a natural companion for the Prime Minister , Mrs Baldwin and Tom Jones during a quiet evening of patience in the Long Gallery at Chequers .
27 When there were contractors to be handed out directors may have tried to help one another , but that can hardly have been a sufficient reason for buying up large blocks of shares .
28 The incident can hardly have been a minor affair .
29 Given the state of the war , the undeniable growth of anti-Nazi feeling , and the rising criticism of Hitler himself , which we have been able to document for the years 1942–4 , such reports can hardly have been an accurate reflection of existing attitudes .
30 With Senator McCarthy 's campaign against treason in the State Department having just got under way this may hardly have been the best time for dispassionate analysis although , if it is not too academic a point , one can not help comparing these propositions with an earlier assessment ( 13 October 1948 ) .
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