Example sentences of "had been [v-ing] [adv prt] [prep] the " in BNC.
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| 1 | The only way this impinged on the message Macmillan had been taking up to the generals in the front-line was that they might now have to prepare even more urgently for military operations to reinforce allied policy . |
| 2 | I tried all the channels from 1 to 40 in case the hijackers had been messing about with the rig in the truck , but still got nothing . |
| 3 | I put the phone down , wondering how many people had been listening in on the extensions , and went back into my room . |
| 4 | The deputy was a Socialist , he had been speaking out against the old work conditions that were being reimposed . |
| 5 | He had been pointing out of the window and asking me if I liked the weather or the colour of the cows . |
| 6 | At the time I honestly never gave a thought to why Billy Tuckett had been poncing around on the roof in the wee small hours or why he 'd chosen Sunil 's bathroom to fall through . |
| 7 | If gaunt-face had been looking up at the Clubroom windows in the hope of seeing Filmer — or of Filmer seeing him — maybe Filmer would come down to talk to him and maybe I could photograph them both together , which might one day prove useful . |
| 8 | The twins , David and Michael , had been prowling about in the front garden waiting for the sight of Belinda 's car , and as soon as she stepped out into the driveway and came up the path to the house they raced ahead of her inside to relay the news of her arrival , without even saying hello to her . |
| 9 | Seeing Anthea each day would be a constant reminder , and neither woman could deny that the masks of civility each had been holding up to the other for months were now trampled underfoot . |
| 10 | But he found that the job that awaited him there was several rungs lower than the job he had been holding down in the UK . |
| 11 | In their defence the party leadership could argue that they had been hampered by the lack of a parliamentary majority ; the choice had been hanging on by the skin of one 's teeth or of giving up and holding an election in the face of adverse opinion polls . |
| 12 | Jessica had been getting out of the house for a while since just after the youngest of the boys had begun at school . |
| 13 | Fortunately , some experience had been building up on the European continent , in Holland in particular , with DMUs which had very reliable and cost-effective engines and transmissions . |
| 14 | With the tent flap closed , the heat had been building up under the canvas . |
| 15 | Towards the end of the 19th century , a crisis had been building up over the names of organic compounds . |
| 16 | While his loving note helped to sooth her misgivings , it was difficult to control the inner turmoil which had been building up over the months . |
| 17 | These were Wilson and Castle 's response to the ‘ unofficial strike problem ’ which had been building up over the '60s but had acquired particular prominence in 1968 with the publication of the Donovan Commission 's report . |
| 18 | For Alfred Watkins , it was not a sudden flash of inspiration from the beyond but something which had been building up within the deeper levels of his being throughout a lifetime of contact with his native countryside . |
| 19 | Pressures for change had been building up within the legislature for some time and these were to be given added impetus by the events surrounding the resignation of President Nixon . |
| 20 | She had n't been reading at all but had been glancing out of the window not seeing the gracious gardens that surrounded Summer Lodge , but planning ways to help Craig when he came to her . |
| 21 | Reveille for the remainder was at 0600 , as the transit camp we had been living in for the fortnight had to be handed over to the next inhabitants spick and span . |
| 22 | Early on Monday evening Wickham tossed the papers he had been scanning on to the desk and stood up . |
| 23 | We have established the assassin had been tramping round in the snow , yet Lady Beatrice and Rachel are wearing the same clothes as they were this morning and , as far as I know , never left the house . ’ |
| 24 | Then they had been sinking on to the bed and , between kisses and caresses , peeling the clothes hungrily from one another , until at last they lay naked , side by side . |
| 25 | Midge had been waiting out in the studio for five hours , fortified by cups of tea brought to her by the friendly police constables . |
| 26 | Hatton had been walking along in the dark and someone had waited for him among the willows and the brambles , the stone ready for use . |
| 27 | She had been walking back along the track , head bent , deep in thought . |
| 28 | Mistakenly , he had agreed to let Brompton-Smiley travel with him in the Rolls and discuss the matter of some urgency he had been whining about for the last two days . |
| 29 | Conscious that she had been crawling around in the hot sunshine for some time without a hat , she retired a short distance to the shade of some trees , sat down on a convenient boulder and tried to conjecture how Alain Gebrec might have spent his last moments . |
| 30 | While the pub had been emptying of its customers , and Fritz had been covering down behind the counter , Mrs Nora had grabbed a broom and , holding it in both hands like a bat , had waited until the Turk had turned to face her — and then cracked him across the forehead . |