Example sentences of "[been] [to-vb] a [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Principally the visit had been to see a senior boy with lifelong problems who had suddenly become unmanageable and would have to be admitted to an asylum , but while there he had been asked to assess Anna Beckett , a child who had moved him strangely . |
| 2 | Some believed indeed that the original intention of Soviet Mediterranean deployments had been to induce a negotiated withdrawal of the United States ' Sixth Fleet . |
| 3 | As Bishop Brinton said , it had been to restore a rightful heir to his kingdom and to defeat tyranny that the campaign in northern Spain had been fought in 1367 . |
| 4 | Although there have been periods of economic stagnation or crisis , including the exceptionally severe crisis of the 1930s ( which itself failed to engender large-scale revolutionary movements in most of the capitalist countries ) , and a renewed depression in the 1980s , the general tendency of capitalism has been to promote a continuous , and sometimes rapid , improvement in material standards of living , in which a large part of the working class , if not the whole class , has shared . |
| 5 | Part of that role — as deputy to the Superintendent — has been to promote a multi-agency approach to crime prevention and community safety , forging close contacts with district councils as well as other statutory and voluntary groups within Hampshire . |
| 6 | The artificial abrasive carborundum , made in Sweden , the U.S.A. and Japan , was probably not available to the Chinese until after the war of 1914–18 , since when its main use has been to impart a high surface gloss to finished articles . |
| 7 | This is because a major aim of public sector housing policy has been to provide a good standard of accommodation usually for the less well-to-do who can not or do not wish to buy their own homes . |
| 8 | The aim has been to provide a central resource , that will : |
| 9 | On each of the three occasions this century where there has been a clear coalition government — May 1915 to November 1922 , August 1931 to September 1932 , and May 1940 to May 1945 — it has been to meet a national emergency . |
| 10 | The great area of progress since the 1970s has been to create a healthy and enterprising economy . |
| 11 | Our experience has been that to create a new expression of the body of Christ has been to create a new possibility of conversion for many such people . |
| 12 | The effect of such a marriage , had it ever taken place , would have been to create a substantial English-dominated fief on France 's northern and eastern borders which would have been a northern equivalent of Aquitaine . |
| 13 | The initial aim in forming the DUP had been to create a united unionist party which would be as orthodox in its constitutional position as the Unionist Party of Craig and Brookeborough . |
| 14 | The main aim has been to design a spatial arrangement which will provide the required performance or function . |
| 15 | The usual approach to discussion on the role of armaments in modern Marxist literature has been to allocate a third department of production specifically for such production . |
| 16 | On the other hand , Major 's strategy so far has been to initiate a secret review of intelligence gathering in Northern Ireland . |
| 17 | In the first of our new series on small gardens , Rosie Atkins has been to visit a delightful family courtyard garden |
| 18 | One very fruitful device adopted at GCSE has been to select a certain kind of document , or group of documents , that carries an apparent contradiction . |
| 19 | The effect of this Act has been to inspire a greater sense of caution in British film-makers regarding the involvement of children in immodest or suggestive photography , and restrictions on importing such material might well spread these considerations abroad . |
| 20 | The aim of all schools of initiation the world over has always been to guide a human mind from an ordinary state of consciousness which is considered as a conscious state of ignorance or illusion , to a higher , more aware , enlightened condition . |
| 21 | Her earlier fears had faded and she thought how foolish she had been to let a ridiculous fancy disturb her happiness . |
| 22 | Their general aim has been to recreate a perceived ‘ golden age ’ , to secure a return to a status quo ante , where , they believe , divorce rates were low , children respectful of adult authority and , most importantly , where religion was the binding force , the ‘ social glue ’ which provided moral authority . |
| 23 | The aim of British governments had , for a century , been to possess a small , highly professional army of volunteers , with a second-line volunteer citizen army intended for home defence . |
| 24 | And Jonathan would never have recognised her as the girl to whom he had become engaged , the easygoing girl whose only concern had been to have a good time , however much money it took . |
| 25 | The second point er chairman is that one particular solution adopted by a couple of County Councils the one in particular has been to have a local act requiring registration of car boot sales which gives enforcement officers a chance to know they 're going to happen and it also requires display of names and addresses not suggesting it is not entirely suggest that is here but late last night we simply felt we want to talk about the possibility of a framework enabling this legislation which will allow that to happen on national basis oh , as a way of controlling this , this sort of activity . |
| 26 | So your ideal system would have been to have a few strategic Cabinet committees beneath the Cabinet that would have done all the most controversial business ? |
| 27 | The approach of the project has been to develop a computable disaggregated model of the economy which differs from , for example , the Treasury model of distinguishing as many as 39 industries and a comparable level of detail in other sectors of the economy . |
| 28 | He will be aware , bearing in mind the other pressures we have on the budget this year , how difficult it has been to get a higher priority for roads . |
| 29 | The traditional role of the tape back-up unit has been to take a complete copy of your hard disk . |
| 30 | One of his ideas had been to take a small naval party with him who would attempt to scuttle a ship in the harbour mouth . |