Example sentences of "[was/were] [pron] but [art] " in BNC.
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| 1 | And so the words turned back on themselves , phrases reappeared , seeming to confirm other phrases , merely repeating themselves , clicking into place with a semblance of logic which nicely disguised the truth that all these words were nothing but a glittering fabric which hovered above the ground , unwinding endlessly , slipping between the fingers , beguiling like a mirage , taking on whatever shape the conjuror wanted , and leading nowhere . |
| 2 | Seen through the disapproving eyes of respectable citizens they were nothing but a disorderly and disorganized rabble , dropouts from the social ladder . |
| 3 | I had a glimpse of a fair-haired girl staring wide-eyed and terrified from a tennis court , her racket held loose by her side and tennis balls scattered at her feet and , though the trees and buildings and gardens were nothing but a high-speed blur , my mind nevertheless registered with a startling clarity that the girl had been completely naked . |
| 4 | ‘ I knew as soon as I saw you that you were nothing but a piece of filth ! |
| 5 | It was possible that these men were nothing but a strong feint designed to draw the allies towards Charleroi while the real French thrust , fuelled by the Emperor 's presence , attacked twenty-five miles to the west at Mons. |
| 6 | The natives were treacherous people , as everyone knew , ungodly and faithless , and their early shows of friendship were nothing but a ruse to lull the pioneers into a false feeling of security , so that they could ensnare them in their false enchantments , pounce on them unawares and kill them while they slept . |
| 7 | A SELF-STYLED showbiz entrepre-neur 's widely-publicised claims for a brand-new TV soap to rival Coronation Street and EastEnders were nothing but a load of froth . |
| 8 | People were impostors and children were nothing but the promise of broken bones . |
| 9 | Indeed , one had only to go to Rhodesia to see the ample supply of consumer goods in the shops from every part of the world to realise that sanctions were nothing but an empty farce , and that the claim that they were going to bring Mr Ian Smith to his knees was a total fraud . |
| 10 | they were nothing but an excuse for idleness ; twelve hours being too many for a man to work underground without intermission . |
| 11 | But no one here has treated me as though I were anything but a permanent staff member , so do n't have any worries on that score . ’ |
| 12 | Although very much the ‘ poor commons ’ paying for the most part a 5 per cent tax on their goods , they were anything but an undifferentiated whole . |
| 13 | Her ill-humour was nothing but a habit . |
| 14 | Yet those are mistaken who imagine ( as , for example , Warnie did ) that Mrs Moore was nothing but a distraction from the serious business of work . |
| 15 | And it was during this time that he had lost his wife , lost his job , lost his sense of himself as a separate human soul , and in struggle worked out the theory that he was nothing but a sick character in the hands or under the pen of a malevolent Author . |
| 16 | And once they climbed so high they entered the clouds and there was nothing but a great whiteness around them as if the world had been erased by a giant rubber . |
| 17 | As I came over the brow , there was nothing but a windswept plateau . |
| 18 | Men , it seemed , were scarcely tolerated in the Jarman household and Mr Hawkins was nothing but a leftover from the days when old Mr Jarman was alive . |
| 19 | Today the president , Mrs Macpherson , in between gracefully shaking hands with each new arrival and presenting her to Mrs MacDonald , decided that she was nothing but a vulgar upstart , and she trembled with suppressed irritation at having to stand in the same receiving line with her . |
| 20 | Meanwhile , she had pursued personal aggrandizement at his expense , a whisper of conscience hinted , until he had learned that he was nothing but a nuisance to her . |
| 21 | But , she told herself sternly , she was nothing but a foolish girl , men the like of Craig Grenfell were not for Hari Morgan . |
| 22 | Hari was angry as she walked back through the streets towards her home , Emily Grenfell was nothing but a snob , she thought everyone beneath her . |
| 23 | Maybe it was nothing but a cavalry raid . |
| 24 | To Lord John , Sharpe was nothing but a killer who had been trained and hardened to death on innumerable battlefields , while Lord John had only ever brought about the death of foxes . |
| 25 | To managers of Banstead the policy was nothing but a hindrance and they felt that if the Department of Health insisted on the ancillary services of the hospital being offered to private tender , the process of counselling staff and keeping good industrial relations during the rundown would be railroaded . |
| 26 | And when they got there , they found that both anticipation and anxiety had overestimated the occasion , for like the reception at the Hôtel de Ville , the dance was nothing but a stifling , uncomfortable , noisy , joyless crush . |
| 27 | The women believed that the PDC 's stated concern for their welfare was nothing but a hollow promise : |
| 28 | In his white face , there was nothing but a stillness deeper than the farthest depths of the sea — a quietness that made Ruth think of a drowned body drifting on its slow journey down to the sea bed . |
| 29 | According to clerical conservatives , liberalism was nothing but a permanent Masonic conspiracy . |
| 30 | A few years ago , there was nothing but a brief ‘ coming next ’ . |