Example sentences of "was [adj] [adv] [prep] a [noun sg] " in BNC.

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1 He embalmed a child in 1717 so skilfully that he deceived Peter the Great , who thought the infant was alive yet in a state of normal repose .
2 This was attributable mainly to an increase in the number of branches , from 158 in 1953–54 to 189 in 1957–58 ; losses in Bedfordshire ( 15 branches down to 11 ) and the Fenland ( 23 down to 15 ) , both of which had been without a tutor-organiser for much of the period , were more than offset by gains everywhere else , notably in Essex ( 27 branches up to 40 ) and Suffolk ( 14 up to 32 ) .
3 On indictment a prison sentence of not more than six months was possible together with a fine ; on summary conviction the maximum was three months .
4 The burst of social legislation prior to 1914 was possible only within a context in which the most obvious social evils of the day , such as the poverty caused by old age , sickness and unemployment , had been identified and shown to be amenable to State action .
5 She could then either wait for the ferry , which was sporadic , or go back up to the head of the estuary and up to where the river was narrow enough for a bridge .
6 The night was so dark that the end of the trench was perceptible only as a lightening of the murk , where the ditch of the town lay ahead .
7 The period is 27 years , and the eclipse lasts for a long time ; the last began on 22 July 1982 and did not end until 25 June 1984 , though it was total only for a year ( January 1983 to January 1984 ) .
8 Standing in the queue were problems of the economy , of the development of the productive forces , which , with regard to agriculture , was conceivable only in a form of the growth of petty-bourgeois economy .
9 It was light enough for a woman to use ; the scythe was a different matter .
10 It was high up in a tree , its back part and hind legs caught in a fork of two branches .
11 As we came round on Wigmore one more time , it was clear even from a distance that the situation had flared up drastically .
12 The greatest pity was that the top was clear enough for a view and as we were perched at the broad gable end of the mountain we could see some fabulous sights .
13 The dining room was empty apart from a couple of staff members who were laying tables for breakfast .
14 Only 17 per cent felt he was acceptable even as a co-representative .
15 He had the difficult task in 1832–3 of reconciling his sympathy for the Whig government with pressing for the sort of positive action on emancipation which was acceptable both to a majority in the political and parliamentary class and antislavery militants in the country .
16 Taking students ' minds off China 's economic and social problems through nationalistic emotions directed against foreigners was acceptable up to a point .
17 The huge sphere of its forward compartments was visible only as a nothingness in the star-filled field of space — a circle of darkness more intense than that which surrounded it .
18 The scene of the Sufi scholar in his room was straight out of a detail from the Anvar-i Suhayli — or indeed any of the illuminated Mughal manuscript books — and I said this to Dr Jaffery .
19 It was straight out of a fairy-tale .
20 You might even find that the lecturer 's blackboard work was straight out of a textbook , perhaps one that he has written himself .
21 ‘ When I told him that the van was standard apart from a roll cage he found it even more difficult to accept .
22 Mitch was thoughtful too for a moment and then he asked , ‘ Why did n't you tell him you spoke Spanish ? ’
23 PRS and Patrick Eggle have revived this fashion , which was predominant once upon a time on Gibson 's ES345/355 models .
24 That was lucky really in a way
25 Alan was likely in for a treat ?
26 It was possible to imagine that the sun was an expression of a force that was sick already of a day just barely started .
27 If armour-plates of internal snobbishness divided millionaires from the rich , and these in turn from the merely comfortable , which was natural enough in a class whose very essence was to climb higher by individual effort , it did not destroy that sense of group consciousness which turned the ‘ middle rank ’ of society into the ‘ middle class ’ or ‘ bourgeoisie ’ .
28 Moyola looked the more likely to get the winning score on the resumption and it came when Ruddock , who was unlucky earlier with a header which struck the Tobermore upright , sent in from the wing in the 79th minute and their big outside left Calderwood was on hand to head to the net .
29 High Lane 's 159 all out was good enough for a draw against Woodford who reached 136 -8 .
30 The imperialist attitude was accommodated in his books all the more easily because he put the emphasis on service and sacrifice rather than on nationalist domination or material gain : an approach that may seem hypocritical to present-day readers was sincere enough in a man who set out to be a philanthropist and reformer and became a best-seller .
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