Example sentences of "[adv] [det] [conj] a [noun sg] " in BNC.

  Next page
No Sentence
1 Better that than a coffin , ’ he whispered , adding as he leaned in to retrieve his fiddle : ‘ And if my coffin is half as comfortable ‘ t is a smooth journey I 'll be having to Paradise . ’
2 Not only that but a drought in Maharashtra in 1987 and 1988 , probably the most severe of the century in the subcontinent , has caused barely a ripple of news interest in the world .
3 Not only that but a change in methods of working , in its ethos and what were seen as its privileges , such as index-linked pensions , was to follow .
4 But seen from within , they appear to be like nothing so much as a mirror-image of the Elizabethan world picture : a little world , tightly organised into its own ranks and with its own rules , as rigid in its own way as the most elaborate protocol at court or ritual in church .
5 Would you prefer to move to a flat — one without so much as a balcony and with no windowsills — or to concrete your garden over and spend your days watching your neighbours at work ?
6 They now fight on a daily basis and invariably without so much as a warning growl .
7 However , it he takes as souvenir so much as a blade of grass the entrance to this charming kingdom will close forever more .
8 ‘ By the way , ’ she began , hardly able to credit that , when earlier that morning her car had been such a concern to her , great expanses of time should now elapse without her giving it so much as a thought , ‘ could you tell me the name of the garage where my car — ’
9 This is not a question of whether the project can be funded indefinitely so much as a question of whether the initiatives in particular schools can maintain momentum once the project grant has been spent .
10 But by not so much as a flicker of an eyebrow did he betray his emotions .
11 This is that the policy was not an attack on the universities so much as a defence of their interests — whether or not correctly understood by officials and ministers .
12 Scarcely pausing for thought , she sat herself down at the keyboard and , without so much as a sheet of music to look at , launched into Rachmaninov 's Second Piano Concerto , blushing deeply to the round of spontaneous applause .
13 Having seen taxis north of Adrar , and then a couple of days ago , a convoy which had not so much as a compass , I had begun to think the desert not so terrible after all .
14 Every moment I was in a fever of anxiety lest I should be missing , by so much as a second , the vital news I both longed for and dreaded .
15 You see , ’ she went on earnestly , ‘ if you were to change the past by so much as a second , do just one minute thing differently , the results could be catastrophic .
16 The questions she had feared earlier seemed to be taking physical shape in the shadowy corners of the room , phantoms waiting to trap her if she dropped her guard for so much as a second .
17 The five minutes were almost up , and she would n't put it past Lori to leave if she was so much as a second late .
18 However , he concluded : ‘ Having to tackle reductions of this magnitude should not be seen so much as a threat to our way of life but as a challenge and an enormous opportunity for the world 's scientists , engineers and industrialists in both the developed and developing countries . ’
19 without so much as a sign :
20 It 's quite possible that people shunned us not so much as a mark of outrage at what we had done , but to avoid the frustration of not being able to satisfy their curiosity about what exactly it was .
21 For there grow no Trees , no not so much as a Shrub on St. Kilda ’ .
22 They get between me and my patients , at any time , for so much as a nanosecond , and they 're out , I do n't care what it does to their scheduling . ’
23 Not surprisingly , in their rush they were disinclined to hump mounds of electrical equipment into the west with them , and would now find themselves without so much as a guitar string to their name , were it not for the warm-hearted generosity of the British thrash metal community .
24 Doctor Tinsley , my old medical man , absolutely forbade me to lift any kind of weight , not so much as a shopping basket . ’
25 This was Cultra , where an introduction was de rigueur before so much as a cocktail could be taken .
26 ITALIAN political life has recently resembled nothing so much as a scene from Goethe 's poem The Sorcerer 's Apprentice .
27 He gave in that connection some instances from The Rock , which he described not so much as a play as a revue , a word he pronounced in the French manner .
28 Because when , without so much as a scrap of protest , Ven had let go of her just now , she had started to get the idea that perhaps he had n't desired her anywhere near as much as she had wanted him .
29 Not by so much as a blink did Rose betray his own surprise at seeing Naseby , whose face had turned a delicate shade of puce .
30 She never dropped out of University and she always worked ( when no-one was looking ) , but she never really felt a part of the University itself , so much as a part of Bristol the city .
  Next page