Example sentences of "[noun pl] they [vb past] been [v-ing] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | They carried away the bin of meat fragments they had been carrying . |
| 2 | For months they had been trying with divets and tackle to hoist the appropriate two-ton stone upright and into its hole . |
| 3 | Over the past few weeks they 'd been rubbing along fairly civilly , though not without the occasional spark flying between them . |
| 4 | ‘ The man , who was known to the police , was one of the knockers they 'd been keeping an eye on . |
| 5 | Abie Klugman had long grown used to the taunt — it was Aronson 's stock joke for all of the ten years they had been lodging with Mrs Neumann , and he no longer minded it . |
| 6 | More distressingly , we discovered that the Aru islands and the Greater Bird of Paradise were no longer on their trading routes and that for the last twenty years they had been pursuing the shorter and more profitable triangular passage between Celebes , Java and Borneo . |
| 7 | In the two years they had been operating , Stephen had taught her never to lose her temper with the guests , however unreasonable , but to try to win them over . |
| 8 | Covertly , leaning far back in his chair , he watched McQuaid from under hooded eyelids : in all the years they had been coming together on Monaghan Day McQuaid had always spent the night in the house . |
| 9 | Like the GenSyn apes they had been experimenting upon . |
| 10 | She too , in spite of the dances and concerts they had been attending lately , knew far fewer people at the station than Rose . |
| 11 | Her evident pleasure and pride in her achievement spilled over into the group , motivating others to follow suit and try out situations they had been avoiding . |
| 12 | It was the Russians they 'd been listening to the whole lot . |
| 13 | However , the FoE did welcome a number of proposals they had been campaigning on for some time . |
| 14 | She was now seated on the ground , propped up against the wall of one of the grimy tenements they had been passing ; someone had brought water , and Dr Neil was gently wiping her face with his damp handkerchief . |
| 15 | They first told police they had been hunting for foxes . |
| 16 | The broad effect of the Act was to enable societies to offer the extended range of services they had been lobbying for . |
| 17 | He had been sending in listings , even reports , on the gigs they had been running in Birmingham . |
| 18 | There were rumours they 'd been having an affair while he was actually teaching her , when she would have been fifteen ; there were rumours the girl was pregnant . |
| 19 | Rookies were all the same in the beginning , eager to please and desperate to be judged favourably by their superiors , but within the space of a few months they had become as bitter and cynical as the seasoned policemen they had been trying to impress . |