Example sentences of "he [modal v] have been [art] [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Lyfing was later a pluralist with no good reputation , but it is worth noting the Chronicle D text 's description of him as " the eloquent bishop " : like Wulfstan , he may have been a notable preacher . |
| 2 | Nothing is known for certain about his parentage and birth , but David Fallows has suggested that he may have been the same man as John Boddenham , born in Oxford in 1422 , chorister and scholar of Winchester College and later scholar and fellow of New College , Oxford . |
| 3 | It was widely believed the committee wanted him , but insiders pointed out he may have been the wrong man for the job . |
| 4 | He may have been an outstanding goalkeeper but he was hardly a product of the Harvard Business School . |
| 5 | ‘ He should have been the best horse I ever had , if only he 'd had decent health ! ’ from owner David Broome , this was quite some testimonial to the abilities of the brilliant grey show-jumper , Phoenix Park . |
| 6 | He should have been the principal suspect . ’ |
| 7 | He should have been the last person to be killed . |
| 8 | He must have been a strong contender for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar but then again , the history of the academy awards is littered with the words ‘ if only … ’ |
| 9 | This tall and handsome man , not so many years older than himself — he must have been a mere boy when McAllister was conceived — could only be by his manner , and his resemblance to her , McAllister 's formidable father , so often referred to . |
| 10 | He must have been a good bit older than her . |
| 11 | He must have been a monied gentleman because it was a marvellous house . |
| 12 | And , indeed , he must have been a tough little lad to have survived it all , though it was to take its toll on him eventually ; by the time he died in far-away London at the age of 29 he had lived through some very harsh times indeed . |
| 13 | He must have been a remarkable man , because when his aircraft was shot down he lost his right hand but before many months had passed he was back on his squadron with a hook on his right arm , and although I am not one hundred percent sure of my facts here , I believe he went back on operations as a navigator or air gunner . |
| 14 | I think , when I think it since , I think he must have been a remarkable man to work and slave like that . |
| 15 | He must have been a natural for the job , being one of the very few Greeks with an appropriate qualification . |
| 16 | The way Pomiane chose to convey the necessary quantity to his listeners — he must have been a compelling radio talker — and later to his readers was in terms of " a bunch as large as a bunch of violets " . |
| 17 | She learned that Maxim had an elder sister — oddly , she 'd always assumed he must have been the first child — who had married a Quaker school-master and lived up North , had three children and did n't work , ‘ Except at disapproving of the Army , ’ Maxim added . |
| 18 | He must have been the first cousin of Man . |
| 19 | He must have been the best-known and most celebrated inhabitant of Baldersdale — excepting Hannah Hauxwell , of course — within living memory . |
| 20 | He must have been the last to drink it . |
| 21 | ‘ Oh , yes , please ! ’ returned Sally-Anne , and then caught her breath again , when he turned his head , presenting her with his beautiful , undamaged profile — he must have been an absolute stunner before he was disfigured . |
| 22 | He must have been an eligible enough bachelor : the son of a fairly prosperous artisan family , trained as a craftsman , and quite a handsome chap into the bargain . |
| 23 | He might have been a natural broadcaster but for the quality of his scripts . |
| 24 | He might have been a minor orator , not quite in the senate , nor yet on the stage , more likely at the Bar of some prosperous provincial town ; in fact he had made his early and relatively modest pile in some wholesale business . |
| 25 | I think he might have been the first black player in England but I know Celtic fielded jazz and rap pioneer Gil Scott Heron 's Dad in the 30s — a great success there apparently . |
| 26 | And Allied Signal Corp chairman Lawrence Bossidy has initiated the UK ‘ manufacturing versus services ’ debate in the US , suggesting that for those that believe that IBM Corp should be making more , cheaper rather than shuttering factories all over the place , he might have been the right man for the job : US industry ‘ can not slash its way to prosperity , ’ he told the new Design & Manufacturing Institute of the Stevens Institute of Technology — adding that while design innovation is a US strength , ‘ we need to extend US technological excellence from the design laboratory to the manufacturing floor — American business needs to find ways to improve the speed with which we convert innovative design into high-quality , marketable product ; many of our factory floors are populated by high-school graduates or dropouts , with a few engineers serving as supervisors safely ensconced behind glass walls , ’ Bossidy said , where Japanese shop floors are staffed much more by graduate engineers who work directly with well-trained workers , to solve problems and improve manufacturing efficiency . |
| 27 | There has been speculation that he might have been the ideal Tory candidate for the Hexham seat if he had not already given his allegiance to Langbaurgh . |
| 28 | He had to sing properly in Zarewitsch and one was reminded yet again that he could have been a great singer if only he had tried . |
| 29 | He could have been a handsome man . |
| 30 | He could have been the finest brain surgeon England has ever seen … even blind he is a superb concert pianist … |