Example sentences of "could not [verb] [pn reflx] [prep] [art] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | But he was n't very good , and even to please her ( which was his only motive for practising ) he could not make himself into a musician . |
| 2 | ( I should point out that I could not bring myself to a Japanese option ! ) |
| 3 | The location of the offence can be proved by the officer in the case to show that the offender could not avail himself of the dwelling defence under section 5(2) and ( 3 ) . |
| 4 | Because they had no way of driving out of office the men who ran the executive in their colonies , the colonial assemblies could not assert themselves in the same way as the Westminster Parliament , and had to fall back on using the seventeenth-century approach of saying that there should be redress of grievance before taxes were voted to run the government . |
| 5 | Luke would have said that politically he stood way to the left of his mother and way , way to the left of his father , but somehow he could not reconcile himself to the thought of his mother stocking shelves in Pricewell 's . |
| 6 | Ellen was emphatic : — I could not take myself to a Foreign Land as you did Lily and never wanted such a thing and though you would be there that alone would in no way satisfy me and I should be afraid . |
| 7 | But German Romanticism could not sustain itself against the blandishments of urban existence , and as the nineteenth century progressed the movement lapsed into sentiment and kitsch — the absolute artistic opportunism that insisted on ‘ moving ’ people emotionally . |
| 8 | A twenty-foot wing-span model powered by a steam engine of Henson origin , but much improved by Stringfellow , was tested in 1845 but could not sustain itself in the air . |
| 9 | Unlike the runners or the cuistots , when carrying a wounded man the unhappy musiciens/ brancardiers could not fling themselves to the ground each time a shell screamed overhead . |
| 10 | That was how he worked , but in this case he could not free himself of the notion that although Francis was the victim he might not be the central figure . |
| 11 | Those who could not console themselves with the thought of world-wide respect for their domestically heartily despised ruler were at least supposed to despair when they heard Western statesmen pour flattery over Ceauşescu . |
| 12 | Although she did not deny that he was handsome and in many ways attractive , she could not envisage herself in an intimate relationship with him . |
| 13 | The Scots could not rid themselves of the English . |
| 14 | Unhappy with the Steads , where she was beaten with a leather strap for wetting the bed , Ruth found a happier relationship with another family , but she could not rid herself of the insecurity . |
| 15 | She had her own shame , and could not rid herself of the guilt that came from loving a man who was not hers to love . |
| 16 | It was n't only that I could n't lift myself off the ground but that I was stuck to it in some way . |
| 17 | People who wanted information from him were noting his silence and making their judgments accordingly ; his life seemed to be funnelling down into a pit like so much waste water , and yet he could n't stir himself to the right kind of action . |
| 18 | Yet she could n't lose herself in the story ; the movements of Luke 's hand as he made lightning sketches , the lazy , sinuous stretching of his legs as he shifted his position impinged upon her concentration , and she found herself reading the same page over and over . |
| 19 | I 'd closed my eyes while she was cutting so I could n't see myself in the mirror . |
| 20 | They both agreed that if you could n't enjoy yourself on the way , what was the point in running a business that afforded them so much freedom to travel ? |
| 21 | The power axe , clenched in his mailed fist , still hewed away at the same small area in front of him , but for the life of him he could n't push himself into the space it liquefied , nor could he shift the weapon to left or to right , so firmly was his arm held by the hydra . |
| 22 | This was all quite accepted , but he could n't rid himself of the memory of his wife gazing blankly at the breakfast table with only the prospect of clearing it . |
| 23 | For days afterwards , she could n't rid herself of the guilty feeling that , somehow , she had brought the attack upon herself . |
| 24 | For one thing , she had never worn a strapless dress before , and although the bodice was tight-fitting and well supported she could n't rid herself of the fear that the dress would go slithering to the floor at some critical moment , leaving her almost naked , like in a bad dream . |
| 25 | ‘ I 've always wanted to meet you to say something … just to say I 'm sorry , but … but I could n't help meself at the time . |