Example sentences of "[adv] they [vb past] been [v-ing] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ruth had no idea how long they had been driving when Sean turned the horses off the road on to a narrow side track . |
| 2 | Perhaps they had been discussing me . |
| 3 | I mean when you 're on picket line it 's very depressing it 's very heart breaking unless you get some comedian or something you know it gets er y you do n't know what to do with yourself and perhaps they 'd been taking pots of this paint I 'm not saying . |
| 4 | So they 'd been playing cat and mouse game and er it has n't paid off you know . |
| 5 | So they 'd been talking about it already . |
| 6 | Well me Auntie Jean and me Mum got passed once , like they 'd been going down and scrubbing it from side at bath and everything . |
| 7 | Now there is nothing to prevent plural continuation here ( e.g. They had been working hard for hours ) , but the incidence of such continuations was less than 5% , and continuations mostly were confined to singular references with individuals being in relatively stereotypical roles with respect to each other . |
| 8 | So far they had been doing nothing more than ‘ just walking the dog , Guv ’ . |
| 9 | Latterly they had been feeding him by dropping his fodder from a loft above the stall , and lowering down pails of water on a string . |
| 10 | Maybe they 'd been meeting in secret for a while . |
| 11 | Then they had been sinking on to the bed and , between kisses and caresses , peeling the clothes hungrily from one another , until at last they lay naked , side by side . |
| 12 | Yes that , I think that 's possibly true , er , I was talking to Cambridge there about oh fifteen , twenty minutes ago and they said it was raining with them , and then they 'd been talking over to somebody over in Coventry and it 's , it 's snowing there |