Example sentences of "[adv] [vb infin] [be] a [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | There is also a small late building on a totally different alignment ( almost east-west ) which could perhaps have been a small Christian shrine , erected to counteract pagan influence . |
| 2 | As this met the requirements of the hotel , serving customers would merely have been a needless waste of effort and resources which could be profitably siphoned off elsewhere . |
| 3 | Maybe I was worried that someone else would read my diary , but if so this worry could only have been a slight one : I was much too careful to afford anyone the opportunity to snoop . |
| 4 | Such an equilibrium could only have been a temporary one , being based upon the fear of a common enemy , rather than on a positive material joint interest . |
| 5 | Zen 's barking background could only have been a big plus the day he found a newborn baby whose entire experience of life was going to be lying abandoned for a few hours by a creek near Plymouth . |
| 6 | For these , it seems obvious , Hitler 's public association with the radical ‘ solution of the Jewish Question ’ and the linking of the Führer to the widespread knowledge and rumours of the extermination of the Jews in the east , can only have been a further negative feature of his image . |
| 7 | But even at this date the alteration in emphasis can only have been a conscious attempt to attune to the wider audience , if still at that time mainly within Bavaria , which was beginning to show interest in Hitler in 1923 , and an awareness that anti-Marxism had a wider potential appeal than the mere repetition of anti-Jewish paroxysms of hate . |
| 8 | Driving through London in a strange car , even on a Sunday evening , would normally have been a terrifying prospect . |
| 9 | Their progress was hampered by the vast crowds and the cars that thronged what would normally have been a clear area but people soon scattered from their path as with lights flashing and sirens wailing they forged ahead . |
| 10 | Since a great proportion of them were engaged in growing corn and other basic needs of life , there must already have been a considerable proportion of the European population who needed to be fed by the labour of others . |
| 11 | A dumb Brummie , a tough-nut Geordie , a light-fingered Scouser , a cheeky Cockernee — it could so easily have been a clichéd mess . |
| 12 | These young people were not only happy they were roaring drunk and there could easily have been a double inquest with that other young man . |
| 13 | It could just as easily have been a refused request to come home late or stay the night at a friend 's house . |
| 14 | And it could so easily have been a suicidal career move . |
| 15 | This could so easily have been a recommendable mid-price set of Mozart 's mature Piano and Violin Sonatas , but it is arguably put out of court by the early digital recording ( made between 1975 and 1978 ) which gives the violin an unpleasant rough edgy tone . |
| 16 | A decade ago there would scarcely have been a single one . |
| 17 | There can hardly ever have been a tougher time to persuade banks to part with their money . |
| 18 | If the wage rate had fallen , say , by 10% and the total employment had increased , as a result , by 5% , there would still have been a net 5% loss in total labor income . |
| 19 | This hypothesis does not seem to have a lot going for it because , at the time Matthew — or whoever — was writing , there would still have been a few people around who could say something like I do n't remember any star ! ' ) |
| 20 | According to the singularity theorems of classical general relativity , there would still have been a big bang singularity . |
| 21 | There could hardly have been a greater contrast than that between Kennedy and his successor . |
| 22 | As they stood together there could hardly have been a greater contrast . |
| 23 | There could hardly have been a clearer contrast between the raw truth and the glossy image . |
| 24 | She recovered — though the royal nursery in Linlithgow can hardly have been a peaceful place , with its occupant combining convalescence with the more normal infant problem of teething ; but she was entirely well by the time Sadler saw her again , in early August . |
| 25 | As an example to the world that the young were powerful , that money was not the be-all and end-all , Apple could hardly have been a bigger failure . |
| 26 | He would hardly have been a natural companion for the Prime Minister , Mrs Baldwin and Tom Jones during a quiet evening of patience in the Long Gallery at Chequers . |
| 27 | When there were contractors to be handed out directors may have tried to help one another , but that can hardly have been a sufficient reason for buying up large blocks of shares . |
| 28 | The incident can hardly have been a minor affair . |
| 29 | Near to large rivers and lakes , fishing would always have been a major activity , particularly for salmon and the ubiquitous eels . |
| 30 | It must always have been a real hope on Wilfrid 's part that a king of Northumbria from another branch of the royal family or from a noble line claiming royal descent would be more favourably disposed towards him than the descendants of Oswiu . |