Example sentences of "[vb past] only [to-vb] the [noun sg] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Jezrael tried only to skim the surface of her thoughts . |
| 2 | Bedford ..... 6 Wasps ...... 57 BEDFORD have now conceded 117 points in their last two matches and this latest reversal served only to illustrate the plight of a club who a few months ago were celebrating their arrival in the Courage First Division . |
| 3 | But if their frankly messy performance at the last Heavenly bash in December served only to illustrate the gulf that now exists between gamely played ‘ real ’ instruments and the lush sheen afforded the high tech brigade , then tonight their strengths were all their own . |
| 4 | The raid had no useful military purpose and served only to alert the Japanese … the intensive fortifications of Tarawa dates from that raid . ’ |
| 5 | Japanese intransigence , however , served only to harden the resolve of the island nations of the South Pacific . |
| 6 | She did what she could with her tousled mass of auburn curls , but when she twisted it into its usual topknot the starkness of the style served only to emphasise the weariness in her wide-set eyes , and with a little mutter of disgust she let the curls fall again , tumbling about her shoulders in riotous abandon . |
| 7 | The sea crossing served only to emphasise the idyll we left behind . |
| 8 | In so far as the reforms accelerated the growth of capitalism and differentiation between employer and employee among the peasantry , they served only to intensify the misery and oppression of the poorer peasants , to advance the struggle between rich and poor peasants . |
| 9 | In each case a working relationship had to be established between employment and education sectors , not without difficulty in certain areas where a lack of trust and respect between potential partners served only to highlight the depth of the cultural divide . |
| 10 | Luke Thackray 's warning served only to increase the sarcasm in his mother 's face . |
| 11 | In fact , however , their very rarity served only to make the procedure arbitrary in the extreme and , indeed , may have added to the reluctance of owners to offer land for development at all . |
| 12 | The increasing specification of sexual behaviour outside the family , which was a product of nineteenth-century sexology and criminal practice , served only to enhance the importance of those definitions which traversed the domestic hearth . |
| 13 | Bernard and Laura 's attitudes were still coloured by the historical evolution of the business , manufacturing led , and believed their shops existed only to absorb the manufacturing capacity . |
| 14 | He decided only to answer the question which he was asked . |
| 15 | In Canada , where the government agreed a $2 million annual grant in 1977 , the Canadian Labour Congress decided only to accept the money on a ‘ no strings ’ basis , taking its traditional view that labour education must be controlled by labour . |
| 16 | Pretending that they desired only to rid the country of a tyrant , on 21 February 1437 they burst into the Blackfriars monastery in Perth in spite of the attempt by Catherine Douglas , one of the queen 's attendants , to bar the door by using her arm as a bolt , earning herself the name of Kate-Bar-the-Door . |
| 17 | She had only to watch the porter 's moves next day to learn the times when he visited his charge , and espy where the two keys of the penal cells hung side by side in the gatehouse . |
| 18 | Bissett had only to see the wire of the Citadel 's perimeter , to see the smoke from the Citadel 's chimneys , to feel a loathing for the place . |
| 19 | She had only to make the decision . |
| 20 | She had only to follow the road now . |
| 21 | He had only to recall the inevitability of their first coming together , her passionate , uncomplicated , animal gusto in their lovemaking to know that the thought was paranoid . |
| 22 | The model we used above was very simple in that the manager , in effect , had only to toss the coin to determine the outcome . |
| 23 | For he halted only to slam the door fast behind him , then , having imprisoned her in her room , he was again coming after her . |
| 24 | The farmer 's defence was that he intended only to wound the thief , and thought he was entitled to do so . |
| 25 | From the outset , McLaren was convinced that Branson wanted only to take the Sex Pistols away from him , ‘ and grind me into the ground ’ . |
| 26 | I wanted only to study the frieze . |