Example sentences of "[noun] [vb past] been a [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Over the years her religion had been a great comfort to her . |
| 2 | Roz Hatch had been a real looker in her time , and the family portrait said one thing to Cowley above all else : we stick together . |
| 3 | The expansion of the USA across the continent had been an epic story as pioneers , followed by settlers , moved westwards . |
| 4 | Gen. Kassem asserted that Kuwait had been an integral component of the southern Iraqi province of Basra under Ottoman rule and that Iraq had succeeded to Turkish territorial sovereignty over Basra with the dissolution of the Ottoman empire after the First World War . |
| 5 | In May 1977 , the Ministry of Defence , although continuing to claim that the shooting had been an unfortunate case of mistaken identity in a legitimate and tense situation , agreed to pay William Black £16,700 in compensation for the injuries he had received . |
| 6 | Bluebeard had been a private joke — an exclamation she had been unable to stifle as they 'd rounded the cliff at the head of the valley and she had got her first glimpse of the imposing turreted Castell Rocamar . |
| 7 | It was normal to tear the shawl first so that its value would not tempt a profane person to violate the tomb ; but the shawl had been a beautiful one and he had not been able to bring himself to do that . |
| 8 | Andrew Jean had been a good ‘ pomp , a good gangbuddy . |
| 9 | In ‘ The Decline of the English Murder ’ he argued that whereas in the past murder had been a serious business involving strong personal commitments and emotions , it had now become an almost casual affair informed by ‘ the anonymous life of dance-halls and the false values of the American film ’ . |
| 10 | Many , probably the great majority of the population , were convinced by 1939 if not before that the Jews had been a harmful influence in German society , and that it would be better if those still remaining left ( or were forced to leave ) as soon as possible . |
| 11 | The lot of the Jews had been an uneasy one for many centuries ; now , for the first time , they were massacred in western Europe . |
| 12 | Old Eddie Mosse had been a strange man to come out of Paradise Street . |
| 13 | Jerome Fanshawe had been an affluent stockbroker . |
| 14 | THE OPENING ceremony had been a great success . |
| 15 | To make the most of beneficial planetary influences had been a principal object of Marsilio Ficino ( 1433–99 ) , one of the first scholars to give the practice of magic the semblance of respectability . |
| 16 | Her engagement had been a bitter mistake , but it had at least taught her a lesson in preserving her invulnerability , instead of charging into things with unbridled optimism . |
| 17 | Friday had been a busy day . |
| 18 | Their most obvious effect had been a massive increase in speculation as more capitalists tried to make money by wheeling and dealing rather than by productive investment : hence the huge foreign exchange dealings and the booms in share prices , gold , land , real estate and commodities . |
| 19 | For Diana , the last few months had been an emotional rollercoaster as she had tried to come to terms with her new life as a public figure and the suffocating publicity as well as her husband 's ambiguous behaviour towards her . |
| 20 | Whereas the recruitment of comfort women — some of whom had been as young as 12 years of age — had previously been acknowledged by Japan , no proof had previously been uncovered that the practice had been an official and systematically imposed policy . |
| 21 | Mehmed II , however , angered because Molla Yegan had been an active and very vocal opponent of the siege , retorted that it was his sword , not Molla Yegan 's prayers , which had achieved the victory . |
| 22 | Mrs Petrov had been a senior Russian agent in Sweden and after her defection Swedish intelligence visited Australia and obtained much useful information from her about the networks she had established in their country .. |
| 23 | Latterly flying as the flagship of Australian TV comedian Norman Gunston , the aircraft had been a familiar sight at Bankstown and , although grounded for the last ten years , had remained substantially complete . |
| 24 | Kylie had been a 13-year-old slip of a thing when she had last stayed with Dennis and Joan in their home in the village of Cymmer . |
| 25 | The pardon had been a central demand of previous Army mutinies , and the prospect of its being announced was thought to have encouraged the loyalty of the Army in putting down the Dec. 3 carapintadas rebellion . |
| 26 | In retrospect he said that he felt that the review had been a good thing for the department . |
| 27 | Mrs Duffy left at once , but Clare felt it would be more polite to linger for a while , rather than rush out after the couple , as if the wedding had been an annoying chore . |
| 28 | One scholar writes that whereas before 1861 " a Russian serf had been a legal nullity " , afterwards he received " entirely new legal entitlements and obligations extending into every basic transaction of everyday life " , with the result that the government had to redesign the empire 's judicial system in order to integrate the peasantry into the community at large . |
| 29 | Buried within the plastic explosive had been a miniature detonator , or minidet , later extracted from within a fragment of vertebra that had been itself buried in the spleen . |
| 30 | Oldfield 's initial deal had been a fair reflection of the market-place at the time . |