Example sentences of "had been [v-ing] [to-vb] the [noun] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | The pupils had been learning to make the mixture in the school 's kitchen , and although there were a few minor mishaps none of the pancakes stuck to the ceiling . |
| 2 | The powerful midfielder , Mauro Silva , was the playmaker they had been looking to build the team around . |
| 3 | Ali had been arrested in April 1990 amidst allegations that he had been plotting to overthrow the government , but was acquitted of terrorism charges in December . |
| 4 | Bella had been trying to push the walking-frame along and carry the tea at the same time . |
| 5 | I had been trying to negotiate the Friday lunch-time run , which was the most lucrative , office-party wise , as ER was always on the lookout for reliable drivers who could not only deliver their people but hang around and pick them up . |
| 6 | Pepita had been trying to remember the events that led up to being bitten by the black widow spider . |
| 7 | For several years BR had been trying to persuade the government to authorise the East Coast main line electrification ; after considerable discussion this was eventually agreed in July 1984 . |
| 8 | He had been trying to reach the doctor they used but the man was out . |
| 9 | Paramedics were at the scene in four minutes of the emergency call and took over from officers who had been trying to stem the flow of blood . |
| 10 | Mr Waite , formerly the Archbishop of Canterbury 's envoy , had been trying to secure the release of Western hostages when he was himself captured because he was suspected of spying for the Americans . |
| 11 | We had been trying to understand the teacher 's purposes and actions in enabling successful collaboration to take place . |
| 12 | ‘ Was he taking it to the person it belongs to ? ’ he asked at last , and it was as though all the time he had been trying to frame the question in a special way . |
| 13 | The six included the party leader , Proinsias De Rossa , who had been trying to reform the party and whose proposals to replace " democratic centralism and Leninist revolutionary tactics " with democratic socialism had narrowly failed to be adopted at a party conference a week earlier . |
| 14 | The man had been so embarrassed he had been pretending to study the graffiti on the cell walls . |
| 15 | Maguire , who struck Playing Truant 14 times , had been expecting to ride the Richard Lee-trained Space Fair in the Mackeson . |
| 16 | Maguire had been expecting to ride the Richard Lee-trained Space Fair in the Mackeson Gold Cup . |
| 17 | All along , Astorre had been longing to get the campaign over and done with . |
| 18 | The IEC would replace the interim economic committee , which had been attempting to manage the economy since the coup [ see pp. 38414-15 ] . |
| 19 | The release of dissident Fang Lizhi in June 1990 [ see above ] was an important symbolic gesture and helped Bush win his battle with congressional critics who had been attempting to block the renewal of China 's most-favoured-nation ( MFN ) trading status . |
| 20 | Branson , who had been attempting to play the role of diplomat with the police , was not arrested . |
| 21 | Lady Cross had been planning to leave the shop but had promised to stay until a replacement was found . |
| 22 | Speaking at his home last night , Mr Hall refused to say if he had known Timex had been planning to close the factory . |
| 23 | The government announced that on April 15 it had arrested a group of soldiers and retired army officers who had been planning to overthrow the government . |
| 24 | After our visit to Baghdad and Amman , the Women 's International Peace Delegation had been planning to visit the US to meet with George Bush , but this was postponed when the attack on Iraq began on January 16 . |
| 25 | Comparex Informationssysteme GmbH put up some money for the development of Viking , and Memorex Telex NV had been planning to market the product too , but is understood to have pulled out . |
| 26 | She and Brian had been meaning to explore the area at weekends , but there had always seemed so much else to do . |
| 27 | She had been working to gain the Pony Rider badge , but there was no riding school in the village , and even if there had been her daddy could n't have afforded fees for riding lessons , because the move from the old house to Wyching had cost a lot of money . |
| 28 | The three of us had been going to spend the evening together but Buffy had slipped off . |
| 29 | She should have been , would have been , indeed , originally it had been Cara and not her who had been going to make the trip to Czechoslovakia alone . |
| 30 | The minister , just back from Chicago where he had been fighting to prevent the breakdown of the talks , described the prospect of punitive tariffs as ‘ sad ’ . |