Example sentences of "not [verb] been a [adj] [noun] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | But it was thirty-one years later and recent scholarship has questioned whether the anecdote might not have been a retrospective invention . |
| 2 | Certainly it would not have been a respectable person , such as Hilbert 's gardener or cleaner , but most likely some unemployed derelict Adam had met in a pub . |
| 3 | Here , this view becomes converted into the argument that the refusal of treatment may not have been a rational decision or may not appear to others to have been so . |
| 4 | Certainly it would not have been a viable proposition if it had run into serious trouble within a year or so of its launch . |
| 5 | But although ‘ Tuxy ’ Girdle may not have been a youthful Hooligan , it did emerge that he had been running whores and he received a substantial sentence of penal servitude for the assault on the man whom the gang had suspected of being a police spy . |
| 6 | ‘ From a planning point of view it would not have been a major worry , although only the force staging the original tie could police the second replay because all the liaison work for the first match would have been done . |
| 7 | There is the possibility of some influence from craftsmen working to the south , around Water Newton , who specialised in the manufacture of geometric designs , but their work was based largely upon lozenge configurations and can not have been a major source of inspiration . |
| 8 | These grand buildings , both seminary and church , set in one of the most important squares in the city , could not have been a clearer statement from the victors of the Battle of the White Mountain . |
| 9 | But I do not mean to suggest either , he wrote , that it was all waiting and no doing , all sitting and no action , for though it was impossible to tell when the beginning would come , indeed , he wrote , there could not have been a real beginning if it had been possible to tell , for if it had been possible to tell that would have meant that there had already been a beginning , no , wrote Harsnet ( typed Goldberg ) , occasionally things were done , work was begun , though it was soon abandoned , it added up to nothing , it only showed me that I had been mistaken in thinking that I had indeed started . |
| 10 | Nothing in Swannell 's direction of his play persuades you that this would not have been a better home for Marrakech . |
| 11 | She glared at him , wondering whether the indigestible steak , swiftly followed by an early night , might not have been a better option after all . |
| 12 | The main room or ‘ house ’ , where the family gathered and worked and where the fire never went out , would not have been a suitable place for storage . |
| 13 | For all his undoubted talent Grayson may not have been a budding Ian Rush but he turned out for one of the country 's most famous clubs , perhaps not the best but certainly one of the best known — Accrington Stanley . |
| 14 | By this time Long would not have been a possible leader , and so the third contender of 1911 alone remained : Austen Chamberlain . |
| 15 | Although obvious , this would not have been a fruitful question to ask , because there was no way in which it could be answered . |
| 16 | Both Fanny and Henry enjoy literature so therefore we can predict that a marriage between them would not have been a total disaster . |
| 17 | ON THE eve of polling day the Prime Minister was asked whether , on reflection , it would not have been a good idea for him to have debated with Mr Kinnock on television . |
| 18 | The ‘ impressive and general ’ wording of Article 23 was seen as demonstrating that the Convention would not have been a proper vehicle for a treaty which would have done the barely conceivable by giving other countries control over American litigation . |
| 19 | That might not have been a wrong number . |
| 20 | Some might think a little delayed public spending on roads would not have been a bad idea at that time . |
| 21 | I would n't say there was much between the two teams apart from the first half here this afternoon when United , I have n't seen United dominate a side so much for a very long time , and really , I mean you were here Peter , three or four nil at half time would not have been a bad reflection on United 's performance in any way at all . |
| 22 | On the other hand , if ATP wanted to demonstrate that they really are interested in the welfare of more than just the top 75 , as some of their lower-ranked members have recently suggested , then helping Birmingham through its current difficulties , which one hopes are only temporary , would not have been a bad thing . |
| 23 | There was no question of saying to myself ‘ better luck next time ’ — there might not have been a next time . |
| 24 | Now , Muze magazine may not have been a high profile organisation but it did provide a much needed platform for the flourishing Manchester rock scene . |
| 25 | With a more interfering Prime Minister and a more suspicious Foreign Secretary it would not have been a happy arrangement . |
| 26 | The intention may not have been a scorched earth policy , but the effect on some departments was the same . |
| 27 | Thus , it conflates the Nemean Lion with the capture of the Keryneian Hind , on which this stance is used , and would not have been a reliable guide for any copyist . |
| 28 | The court assumes that , if the ground-rent was ‘ a burden incident to the taking of the lease ’ or ( Lord Denman C.J. ) ‘ a necessary burden on the premises , ’ the plaintiff 's promise to pay it would not have been a sufficient consideration : a promise to make a gift of onerous property is still a mere promise to make a gift , though the promisee agrees to assume the burden . |
| 29 | As yet this seems not to have been a frequent occurrence and the request was successfully rebuffed by some abbots of religious houses which did not own the king as patron , but a door had been opened which subsequent monarchs were to push far wider . |
| 30 | Her assessment of me changed from one of total hostility to a slightly puzzled statement that my experience with these doctors , in her own words ‘ may prove , after all , not to have been a bad thing for this peculiar chap — half high principle and half unashamed pragmatism — to have been brought into personal dealings with this autocratic profession and to experience at first hand the kind of behaviour that has been driving Ministers of Health to despair for years ’ . |