Example sentences of "[conj] [was/were] [pron] not " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | I turned towards one of the crowd , a grey hunched wrinkled old crone , and started arguing with her in formal fashion : was I dead , or was I not ? |
| 2 | You spoke about what was said in the brochure that management charges had been or would be running at about a rate of inflation , we can see it on page fifty six , it 's better if you look at it I think , rather than I parrot phrase , see fifty six if you so kind now see fifty six is talking about at Broadstone will the management charges greatly increase the answer is no management service , er , sorry has appointed U K leading management specialist for several reasons , firstly because of their professional caring attitude , secondly because time has shown that management charges , rises the rate either slightly below or at the levelled inflation when that brochure was produced in respect of that development was that statement true or was it not ? |
| 3 | Or was she not ill at all ? |
| 4 | When the psychologist Donald Griffin describes the ability of great tits and chickadees to obtain milk from bottles by ‘ pecking through their shiny coverings with the conscious intention of obtaining food ’ ( 1984 : 35 ) , it is obvious that were he not talking of a ‘ conscious intention ’ , in the normal human acceptation of the phrase , he would fail to arouse the average reader 's curiosity and sympathies . |
| 5 | He also held , dubiously , that were it not for the corruptions imposed by state and law , men would develop bonds of instinctive solidarity which would make government unnecessary . |
| 6 | It is tempting to speculate that were it not for the onset of the protracted illness in February 1858 Which led to his death in September 1859 , his influence might have produced a very different outcome to the competition . |
| 7 | Then Baldwin saw him again and told hint that were it not for his age and his health ( neither of which had greatly changed in the preceding forty-eight hours ) , he would have offered him the vacancy , but as it was it had better go to Eden . |
| 8 | It is our understanding that were it not for the contact that was made by the state lottery with Scientific Games , that they would be a bidder , the Scientific Games system is a good system . |
| 9 | It is strange to consider that were it not for the intervention of Conservative industrialists , the proposals in this Bill could have been far worse . |
| 10 | It should be pointed out , though , that were it not for the attacks through evolutionary time of these herbivores , there would be none of the commercially significant heartwoods , latexes and resins so useful to humans . |
| 11 | Are you not a friend of Roy Dunlop 's and were we not all together once in Vancouver ? ’ |
| 12 | Some forms ( Turrilites ) adopted the helical spire , and were it not for the obligatory suture lines it might be possible to mistake these species for large gastropods . |
| 13 | Hill farming demands very hard work for marginal returns and were it not for government subsidies for hill sheep and cattle , many hill farmers would have to give up . |
| 14 | The top is not visible from the road , and were it not for a sizeable cairn you could miss it altogether . |
| 15 | There is , monks , an unborn not become , not made , uncompounded , and were it not , monks , for this unborn , not become , not made , uncompounded , no escape could be shown here , for what is born , has become made , is compounded . |
| 16 | I fancy that across the channel where Napoleon 's wars were ravaging all Europe , our two innkeepers fell flat as pancakes , and were it not for the felicities of their translator they would scarcely be worth comment . |
| 17 | ‘ She is unwomanly , ’ Zurachina said , as if she anticipated his objections , ‘ and were it not for her beauty I would wish that she had been born a man . ’ |
| 18 | No mean problem , this , in a time largely deafened to such sober music , and were it not for the incomparable examples of Spenser and Milton , he might finally have despaired ; but what they in their day had achieved for their grave themes ought ( he had long believed ) to be possible for the richer store of myth and symbol at his disposal ; and now the lines had begun to move with the majesty he desired . |
| 19 | In this fieldworker 's experience , boundaries between parishes are frequently very unimpressive , often no different to general field boundaries in the vicinity , and were it not for the fact that the boundary line is known , the field evidence would in many cases not suggest it . |
| 20 | And were you not recognizing him ? ’ |
| 21 | And was it not infinite riches ? |
| 22 | Did not the patients charter cost £2 million to publicise and launch and was it not £2 million worth of Conservative propaganda ? |
| 23 | No I and and and was it not discouraged a wee bit at school . |
| 24 | But were it not for the perceived economic might of a more unified Economic Community , the dozen or so nations of the Pacific Rim , who have been meeting in Australia , might not have bothered . |
| 25 | But were you not here to greet me I would miss you . ’ |
| 26 | It has been argued earlier that the LEAs , both individually and collectively , failed to generate greater consensus on the school curriculum , but were there not alternative means of bringing together the various partners ( the LEAs , schools and their teachers , governors and parents , industry and commerce ; the churches ) to reach an agreement ? |
| 27 | ‘ But was he not pleased to see you back ? ’ |
| 28 | But was it not partly the fault of tradesmen ? ’ |
| 29 | But was it not possible that Tutilo had believed just as sincerely ? |
| 30 | Traditional landlordism might be economically undesirable , but was it not the cement which held together a social structure which might otherwise collapse into anarchy and revolution ? |