Example sentences of "was [adv] a [noun] of [noun sg] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | This was mostly a matter of scale ; Pete 's feeling was that you could n't own such a place , you could only be owned by it . |
| 2 | It was rather a kind of oligarchy , with a strong hereditary element in its composition . |
| 3 | As Stephen Wood points out in his Introduction to his edited book discussing the de-skilling thesis ( Wood 1982 , 15 ) , Braverman appears to assume ‘ that prior to Taylorism control was not in the hands of management , but was rather a kind of management by neglect ( the laissez-faire method , as Taylor called it ) , in which workers knew more than managers ’ . |
| 4 | Some years ago the teachers of one language pronounced themselves satisfied that at the end of a year the students of it had the capacity for literary reading ; the equally competent and concerned teachers of another language were convinced that their students had achieved no such capacity , and that the process was rather a waste of time . |
| 5 | In the early stages we started off with perhaps Minor schools which could almost have been Major ones , because you were just trying to find any school that had got some kind of life , or interest , or things happening … really in many ways it was rather a matter of chance because of the way it happened at the time . |
| 6 | In the 1890s the British botanist H. B. Guppy , who specialized in the study of oceanic islands , began to argue that dispersal was merely a function of time : the oldest genera were the most widespread , whatever their powers of dispersal . |
| 7 | Heroes could be any one of these or many other heroic individuals — the Emperor Magnus the Pious was merely a student of theology when he began his march against Chaos , for example . |
| 8 | Nietzsche 's inaugural lecture , it is true , had alarmed Ritschl by suggesting that " all philological activity should be embraced and defined by a philosophical outlook " , but that ( in a lecture on Homer ) was merely a statement of intent . |
| 9 | It was merely a figure of speech ; you need have no fear that I 'll creep along in the early hours to take advantage of your defenceless body . ’ |
| 10 | Yes , something was going on inside her : recently , she was pursued by the idea that her love for Paul was merely a matter of will : merely the will to love him ; merely the will to have a happy marriage . |
| 11 | This pleased his Peripatetic opponents who asserted with Aristotle that sinking or floating was merely a matter of shape . |
| 12 | The Soviet Union saw no need to remain in military terms and appears to have thought it was merely a matter of time before communism was extended to the southern half of the peninsula . |
| 13 | I told him the letter had been posted on to you and it was merely a matter of time before you got it . ’ |
| 14 | It was merely a matter of time and I knew it . |
| 15 | ‘ I mean it was merely a study of kinship , ’ he added , seeing before him now the outraged faces of his colleagues at his letting the side down by describing such work as ‘ nothing much , really ’ . |
| 16 | The dispute between Derrida and Foucault was less a question of text versus history than an argument about history itself . |
| 17 | So there was obviously a lot of debate around , you know , Is it going to happen ? and if it does happen , well it 'll clearly happen in . |
| 18 | That was obviously a load of rubbish . ’ |
| 19 | The distress suffered by individuals and their families was obviously a matter of concern for everybody , whether or not they were directly affected . |
| 20 | While he was enthusing about future advancements in the industry there was perhaps a hint of sadness in leaving it behind — but thoughts of the ‘ challenges of my new career ’ soon put back the sparkle in his eye . |
| 21 | Because of this , British policy was constantly a source of apprehension , and the democratic overthrow of British society was sometimes foretold abroad . |
| 22 | It is claimed , for example , that Russia 's ability to produce an atomic and later a nuclear bomb was entirely a result of information given by British spies . |
| 23 | There was only a powdering of snow in the moat , no water . |
| 24 | ‘ After a week 's work it was satisfying to win against Brighton but it was only a glimmer of hope . ’ |
| 25 | it was only a couple of pound a yard . |
| 26 | Underpowered , overweight and outdated , the once 200 strong fleet , affectionately known as ‘ Whistlers ’ was in decline from the mid-1970s , and when major overhauls ceased at BREL Crewe in 1981 it was only a question of time before they disappeared first from top link Eastern Region duties , and finally in 1985 freight workings originating from the North West . |
| 27 | De Gaulle was not immortal , and so it was only a question of time before further attempts could be made to find a sheltered anchorage off the Western European shore . |
| 28 | The Midlands ' shop stewards knew it was only a question of time before the strike affected supplies to their own plants and those in the South , jeopardising the recovery plan which had been producing such vast improvements in performance . |
| 29 | It was only a question of time — unless help arrived . |
| 30 | Its value abroad was too high for the UK to compete , so its fall was only a question of time . |