Example sentences of "she had [adv] be a [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | If she had n't been a good actress I would n't have hired her . ’ |
| 2 | " Nowhere , " she said , but her mother always knew when she was lying because she had n't been a bad liar in her time herself , and it took one to know one . |
| 3 | But she had n't been a hardnosed grubber after facts ( or compiler of falsehoods , for that matter ) . |
| 4 | If she had n't been an awkward , obstinate bitch of a teenager , it would all have been very different . |
| 5 | Would he have ‘ lost his self-control ’ if she had not been a mature person ? |
| 6 | The cultural difference between Spain and the Spanish king 's northern dominions was considerably greater than that between France and Scotland ; Scotland managed to resist becoming a permanent part of the French political hegemony , but she had long been an enthusiastic member of the cultural one . |
| 7 | She had once been a famous athlete , and even now the muscles were still clearly in evidence . |
| 8 | She had once been a warm Methodist and so too , probably , had been most of her followers . |
| 9 | It has been suggested that she had once been a Benedictine nun of the convent of Carrow , which was situated near the church where she eventually had her cell : to this day Benedictine nuns take the title ‘ Dame ’ , the honorary title of any woman of rank at this time . |
| 10 | She adopted an abrasive stance towards the European Common Market , for which she had never been a strong enthusiast . |
| 11 | She had never been a tense or anxious person . |
| 12 | She had always been a confident , outgoing person . |
| 13 | To him until then she had always been a safe comforting haven ; complete and seemingly self-sufficient in herself , she had always been an unfailing source of reassurance , ever ready to pour unquestioning love and affection on him in his moments of need . |
| 14 | She had always been a self-sufficient woman , since the married years with Martin . |
| 15 | She had always been an anxious individual and during her teens she went through periods of compulsive overeating alternating with dieting . |
| 16 | To him until then she had always been a safe comforting haven ; complete and seemingly self-sufficient in herself , she had always been an unfailing source of reassurance , ever ready to pour unquestioning love and affection on him in his moments of need . |
| 17 | Whatever her situation , she had still been a human being , entitled to warmth and shelter and protection . |