Example sentences of "was [prep] [noun sg] the first [noun sg] " in BNC.

  Next page
No Sentence
1 In 1900 Edinburgh Waverley Station boasted forty lady operators working in the telegraph department , sending out 4,000 messages a day.a But it was of course the First World War which suddenly gave a tremendous fillip to women 's employment in stations .
2 It was in fact the first time in his life that he had looked at any woman .
3 It was in fact the first time she had thought of such a thing , and it did not seem to be a very good idea , but nothing irritated her more than being addressed in that Listen With Mother voice ( particularly as her daughter-in-law spoke to her children quite normally ) and it goaded her to contrariness .
4 When the Data Protection Committee was set up in 1976 , to redeem a pledge made by the Home Secretary when Younger reported , It had no such limitation put upon it — it was in fact the first body empowered to investigate information systems in the public sector , and the Committee came to see this as a major aspect of its work .
5 As Holy Communion was by tradition the first food and drink of the day , the tea left a feeling of guilt for I was told never to tell anyone although I expect it was a common practice amongst lady communicants .
  Next page