Example sentences of "[vb past] always been a [noun sg] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Well , I 'd always been a bit too busy — and clever ! |
| 2 | He 'd always been a dairy farmer , you see , like I am . |
| 3 | There had always been a possibility that the telephone call had been a hoax and this seemed to be getting more likely all the time . |
| 4 | There was , she found , a certain satisfaction to be got from standing behind a counter ; she had always been a customer , at the receiving end , until now . |
| 5 | Eugénie had not long been an Empress , but she had always been a grandee of Spain , with all that implied in pride and good breeding . |
| 6 | The two phenomena were linked , for traditional religion had always been a bond of social unity through the ritual assertion of community . |
| 7 | Traditions of feminine religious experience , expressing a mystical , quasi-sexual communion with God , had always been a current within Catholicism and in many Protestant sects , and some women drew on its potential . |
| 8 | The Vaudeville on rue Vivienne had always been a favourite of Roquelaure 's . |
| 9 | Besides , she had none of her own and Leila had always been a favourite . |
| 10 | My first choice had always been a pay review body and the significant breakthrough came when Geoffrey Howe and Leon Brittan at the Treasury also backed this proposal . |
| 11 | In the group accounts , the subsidiary undertaking is treated as if it had always been a member of the group . |
| 12 | Camille wondered whether , if she was not here , he would be more expansive , then remembered that he had always been a man of few words . |
| 13 | Chemistry had always been a part of a medical training , with its role in pharmacy ; but the organic chemistry which Liebig had pioneered promised deeper-level explanations in biology . |
| 14 | Sport had always been a part of village life and Halling has a long association with all forms of sport . |
| 15 | Corrosion had always been a problem in the chemical industry , both in containment and in heating . |
| 16 | The lady had always been a bit flighty in her mind — nervous , delicate , taking odd fancies . |
| 17 | He had always been a bit that way had Rufus , manifestly to be seen to be doing all right for himself , successful , forging ahead , accompanied by the best-looking girl possible . |
| 18 | In Maggie 's heart there had always been a prayer that they might be reconciled . |
| 19 | However , there had always been a doubt as to whether or not Rodrigo could stay the mile and a half at Epsom . |
| 20 | It was a fantasy , as he was himself , it had always been a fantasy , and perhaps it was better to keep it so . |
| 21 | The Mukhabarat demanded he sign an affidavit accusing his brother of all sorts of other crimes and saying that he had always been a traitor at heart . |
| 22 | They were a kindly couple , rather older than one would have expected , although there had always been a suggestion of old-fashionedness about Dorothy as a child . |
| 23 | He pushed past a group of waiting relatives … why people insisted on waving when the train was still so far away had always been a mystery to him … and glanced round sharply at a teenage girl who elbowed him accidentally , but painfully , in the back . |
| 24 | He had always been a socialist and a pacifist , a brave position for a man in public life to adopt at the time , and he and his colleagues paid a heavy price for his principles when in 1940 the BBC banned the Glasgow Orpheus Choir from the air waves . |
| 25 | The Nielsons had always been a family of know-it-alls . |
| 26 | There was a balance of power — but there had always been a balance of power . |
| 27 | I think the death of David 's father was probably what took him a while to make the decision about leaving Ken , because to lose his father , who he really adored , who had always been a pillar of strength to him , changed his life , and I think David carried a bitterness about him dying for a long time . |
| 28 | But no , his daughter had always been a model of sobriety , good works and even chastity ( a virgin when she married at nineteen . |
| 29 | It had always been a moment of pure magic to him in the theatre , the consciousness of the huge rustling animal behind him , and the hush as the house lights went down , the pause of utter stillness , silence , and then as he brought his baton down , the incredible surge of excitement as music smashed the silence , created instantly the illusion of that otherworld that did n't really exist . |
| 30 | There had always been a trap waiting for him somewhere along the way when Isambard loosed the reins a little , and it would be the same now . |