Example sentences of "could [not/n't] [verb] [verb] a [adj] " in BNC.
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| 1 | One could not hope to find a better medium for escape than a pair of metaphorical , spiritual wings . |
| 2 | Quite how a man who could not bear to hurt a living thing after seeing the damage his childhood air-rifle did to a starling could serve as defence secretary is something of an enigma . |
| 3 | As ever , little was done to conceal anything from me as I went in and out of the various rooms in which these gentlemen sat deep in discussion , and I thus could not avoid gaining a certain impression of the general mood at this stage of the proceedings . |
| 4 | As the poets say — ’ he could not bring to mind a single line and so he stopped , and looked down on the lake as if in mourning , intuiting , correctly , that this would have the same effect as a couplet . |
| 5 | Because the dogs belonged to Fen , Robbie could not help taking a deeper interest than usual in their welfare . |
| 6 | He could not help feeling a grudging admiration for the old lady . |
| 7 | Even the advent of the university had not done much to increase his sales , she considered shrewdly , since she could not recall seeing a single bookshelf in any of the homes of university staff which she had visited . |
| 8 | Gieves , a business that dates back to 1785 , were above all tailors to the officers of HM Navy , many of whom , the management appreciated , could not afford to buy a good quality uniform , which they had to provide themselves , and pay for it in cash . |
| 9 | The plaintiffs could not afford to buy a new dredger and had to hire one . |
| 10 | Once she could not have imagined a greater disaster — all the garments she 'd been working on , with such dedication , day and night , for weeks on end now , had totally vanished , disappeared . |
| 11 | I could not have imagined a better companion . |
| 12 | The population of Easter Island could not have exceeded a few thousand , so a sizeable proportion of the men must have been employed at the quarry , carving likenesses of their deceased relatives . |
| 13 | When nothing happened , the Brotherhood decided that Huw could not have lodged a formal complaint about their treatment of him , so — with some relief , and a certain amount of grudging respect — they let the matter drop . |
| 14 | Tim could not have made a better choice . ’ |
| 15 | As confirmation of the significance Harry had detected in Heather 's photographs , Mossop 's retraced route of three months before could not have made a better start . |
| 16 | Holmes says : ‘ Steve could not have made a better start to his outdoor season and it opens up all sorts of possibilities . |
| 17 | He could not have made a finer creature in his own vats . |
| 18 | Sheila could not have desired a worse profession . |
| 19 | Hollywood could not have created a better image of the middle ages . |
| 20 | He had scarcely known Maggie , could not have known that he could not have chosen a better treat than this mysterious park , with its vast statues carved out of the living rock : the huge-mouthed cave with its mighty teeth , the vast stone giant , his shoulders visible through bushes a hundred yards away , half hidden in greenery ; and above all , the great carved stone dragon with its broken wings , and wild Chinese eyes . |
| 21 | Mr Robin Cook , shadow Health Secretary , said : ‘ We could not have chosen a better issue to put centre stage for the first televised session of Parliament . ’ |
| 22 | GRAEME HICK finally lived up to his tag as England 's saviour yesterday — and the one-time ‘ Boy Wonder ’ could not have chosen a better moment to put his wretched Test record behind him . |
| 23 | We had a beautiful Spring holiday on the Beauly Firth , and could not have chosen a better time to be there , with all the different kinds of foliage on the hillsides , and the spring flowers on the banks . |
| 24 | The 39-year-old Briton could not have got a better start to his new career with the Indycar team owned by Paul Newman and Carl Haas , but now has every driver on his tail . |
| 25 | After the majestic setting of Old Trafford , Middlesbrough could not have expected a greater contrast than Roots Hall . |
| 26 | QUEEN OF SHANNON had tears and not champagne flowing by winning at Salisbury yesterday — but she could not have picked a better moment . |
| 27 | If he were going to humiliate her , he could not have picked a better opportunity . |
| 28 | He started up twenty years ago , he could not have picked a better time . |
| 29 | In fact , if the problem is set within the context of an evidently powerful late-tenth-century Danish monarchy , it is difficult to believe that Harald Bluetooth or his son could not have introduced a naval system had they wished , and when the concern about the country 's southern land defences is remembered , along with the importance that must also have been attached to protection from sea-borne attack , it might seem more likely than not that they did wish . |
| 30 | ‘ Richard Cawston 's film could not have had a better critical reception if it had been the combined work of Eisenstein , Hitchcock and Fellini , ’ wrote the critic in the Evening Standard . |