Example sentences of "[prep] [subord] [pers pn] could [vb infin] " in BNC.
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| 1 | Then those who felt attracted by the idea of emigrating discussed it among themselves to see if it was at all feasible for them — there would be their affairs in Cork to liquidate , there might be family ties to take into account , there was even the question of whether they could endure the change of climate . |
| 2 | Mr Milligan is , of course a friend of , and hero to , his fellow depressive , the Prince of Wales who — as if we could forget — used to imitate the zany funster in revues whilst at Cambridge University . |
| 3 | ‘ Sounds as if we could do with Dad aboard right now , ’ Hawkins said . |
| 4 | ‘ We had plenty of the ball but we did not look as if we could do anything from our set plays and we did not look likely to score from them . ’ |
| 5 | It sounds as if we could learn a great deal from Germany and Holland about , in the health service , erm because their systems by now by all statistical tests of mortality and illness and so on , seem to be doing a better job than ours . |
| 6 | In the words of his 1906 paper , ‘ the seismograph enables us to see into the earth and to determine its nature … as if we could drive a tunnel through it . ’ |
| 7 | He seemed fascinated by his hands ; he was flexing the fingers rhythmically and gazing at them as if they could tell him something important about himself . |
| 8 | A tiny minority of landowners lived in enormous wealth and comfort , exacting feudal dues and enforced labour from farmers who had in effect become their tied peasants : these landowners still engaged in the grain trade as their families had done for generations , and as if they could think of nothing else to do . |
| 9 | LEE WEARS a shiny nylon jacket that 's on loan from the Sir Alf Ramsey estate , and cheesy sports pants that look as if they could walk home on their own . |
| 10 | It makes all the shoppers feel as if they could live in the style of Jane Austen . |
| 11 | My ear bends towards my receiver , and I keep my eye on the kitchen door as if they could come bursting through right now . |
| 12 | What pleased me very much was that someone said of my first photographs taken abroad that they looked as if they could have been taken anywhere . |
| 13 | These olives — their trunks warped , gouged , carbuncled , abrasive to the touch — seem indestructible , as if they could survive even a nuclear winter . |
| 14 | Feel as if they could fly to pieces . |
| 15 | Things looked very tense — as if they could swing either way . |
| 16 | The quality of the ball suffered accordingly and although Biarritz scored two tries to Toulon 's one they never looked as if they could win the game . |
| 17 | ‘ I knew you was n't one of his usual harem — none of that lot look as if they could boil a kettle , never mind an egg . |
| 18 | It 's not as if they could read the Radio Times and see |
| 19 | as if she could bear it no longer , she dropped her knife and seized the chalk . |
| 20 | as if she could forget , although she tried her hardest ! |
| 21 | But he 's English originally , is n't he ? ’ she prompted Florian , as if she could alter the truth by uncovering an error . |
| 22 | Ruth felt as if she could do nothing but stare . |
| 23 | The girl looked as if she could do with a fairy godmother , or perhaps just a mother . |
| 24 | She felt as if she could float up into the starry night . |
| 25 | as if she could leave all her troubles behind . |
| 26 | The different ages of her life seemed to exist simultaneously , as if she could move from age to age according to how she felt . |
| 27 | It sounds as if she could cope all right on her own . ’ |
| 28 | She gripped Fand almost roughly , as if she could hold her back from dying . |
| 29 | There was a slight tremor to the hand she had raised , as if she could hold off the madness that way , and she dropped it swiftly as she absorbed the hardness of his saturnine face and the overt demand glittering hotly in his eyes . |
| 30 | She stripped off her clothes and dropped them where they fell , then ran a bath and climbed into it , scouring her skin over and over with a loofah as if she could wash away the memory of his body on hers . |