Example sentences of "had been [v-ing] [to-vb] [art] [noun sg] " in BNC.
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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 | An official of the Lithuanian Supreme Council claimed on March 18 that Antas Petrauskas Lithuania 's Soviet-appointed state procurator [ see p. 37361 ] , had been seeking to pursue an investigation against Butkevicius on charges of illegal weapons ' possession . |
| 3 | Since 1977 Brown had been looking to buy a business in Scotland , where his family , roots and contacts are . |
| 4 | For some years the three-cornered parish with its three Mass centres had been looking to provide a parish centre with meeting and function rooms and to locate the priests ' house onsite . |
| 5 | The powerful midfielder , Mauro Silva , was the playmaker they had been looking to build the team around . |
| 6 | 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 . |
| 7 | Bella had been trying to push the walking-frame along and carry the tea at the same time . |
| 8 | 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 . |
| 9 | He had drunk three glasses of home-made wine and had been trying to watch a film on television , but was unable to get interested in it . |
| 10 | She could smell the wood-smoke : someone had been trying to light a fire . |
| 11 | He had been trying to reach the doctor they used but the man was out . |
| 12 | Zborowski had been trying to find a way of flattering the old man ever since the party arrived in Nice . |
| 13 | They could tell from his footprints in the snow that he had been trying to find a fold , which is what we call a stone shelter built for gathering sheep . |
| 14 | Parish council chairman Alec Templeton said members had been trying to find an adventure area to get young bikers away from footpaths and roads because most were not even old enough to be licensed . |
| 15 | Here was a woman who had been trying to have a child ever since her marriage and yet she , Celia , had conceived not merely without any difficulty but on the one and only time she had not taken steps to prevent it . |
| 16 | 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 . |
| 17 | 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 . |
| 18 | Libby and George had been trying to build a bridge with logs pulled from the wood and tied with twine from the farm to stop them rolling apart . |
| 19 | We had been trying to understand the teacher 's purposes and actions in enabling successful collaboration to take place . |
| 20 | I had been trying to get a membership list for the Cicero Club , but the only other name I could come up with was George Macready , a scarfaced iceman who had a profitable share of the City 's gambling and was best known for his sword-extruding walking stick . |
| 21 | ‘ 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 . |
| 22 | 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 . |
| 23 | Fred had been helping to rescue a family trapped in a cellar when a collapsing beam held him trapped by his left arm and leg for several hours , but he made a good recovery . |
| 24 | All along , Astorre had been longing to get the campaign over and done with . |
| 25 | The IEC would replace the interim economic committee , which had been attempting to manage the economy since the coup [ see pp. 38414-15 ] . |
| 26 | 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 . |
| 27 | Branson , who had been attempting to play the role of diplomat with the police , was not arrested . |
| 28 | While waiting around for five months he had been planning to do a story on a particular platoon of sixteen guys , which was very promising at first and the men enthusiastic and helpful . |
| 29 | Lady Cross had been planning to leave the shop but had promised to stay until a replacement was found . |
| 30 | Speaking at his home last night , Mr Hall refused to say if he had known Timex had been planning to close the factory . |