Example sentences of "had been [to-vb] [adv prt] the [noun] " in BNC.

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1 The company policy had been to speed up the line and the rate of production .
2 According to a statement received by the weekly Oiga , Salinas accepted responsibility for the coup attempt and declared that its aim had been to hand over the presidency to Máximo San Román Cáceres , Fujimori 's dismissed First Vice-President named " constitutional president " by the dissolved Congress [ see p. 38846 ] .
3 The aim of successive American administrations had been to build up the strength of the most vulnerable states in the area — those known until the Second World War as French Indo-China and later divided into the separate states of Vietnam , Laos and Cambodia .
4 His response had been to build up the power of his supporters the Nevilles : Richard earl of Warwick and his brothers John , who was made earl of Northumberland , and George , who became archbishop of York .
5 His response had been to build up the power of his supporters the Nevilles : Richard earl of Warwick and his brothers John , who was made earl of Northumberland , and George , who became archbishop of York .
6 Indeed , as administrator Myra Hickey points out , when the Labour council was elected in 1986 one of its manifesto commitments had been to bring back the festival which had been absent for the previous two years owing to the council reclaiming its original site .
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