Example sentences of "[was/were] [verb] [pn reflx] [prep] a " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Many of the instrumental numbers were so relaxed , they looked like they were amusing themselves at a family party and when Harry told everyone to stand up as he bopped around the stage in his black silk suit , everyone did as they were told . |
| 2 | However , if you were to help yourself to a reasonably generous helping of watercress as part of a salad meal , it is unlikely that your portion would weigh more than half an ounce . |
| 3 | You were getting yourself into a whole load of trouble , Fran , and I needed to ensure that there would be someone around to look after you when I could n't be . |
| 4 | The Smiths were priming themselves for a spell in the top five . |
| 5 | Meanwhile , the Chancellor was bracing himself for a furious political storm when he unveils his autumn package on Thursday , including a mystery ‘ fiscal package ’ ministers are remaining tight-lipped about . |
| 6 | The city was bracing itself for a party to beat them all , but the Spaniards decided to re-write the script . |
| 7 | Erm and really the only way I thought that I could prevent myself from doing anything like that was to kill myself in a very violent way because I |
| 8 | If so , it would be wrong that the council , because it has performed its statutory duty under the national law to enforce section 47 , was to find itself under a liability in damages as a result of performing that duty . |
| 9 | One client referred for counselling eventually admitted that she was starving herself as a way of preventing conception ; she did not want another child , but her husband had pressurised her to become pregnant . |
| 10 | Surely he must have realised that he was pitting himself against a concern of considerable strength . |
| 11 | A sob , swiftly repressed , rose in her throat ; she was condemning herself to a life as lonely as the seagull 's looked , but it , at least , could find a mate — she would never be able to do that . |
| 12 | The lecherous Cohn once used his intercom to address an embarrassed starlet when he asked her if she was keeping herself in a state of sexual readiness for him . |
| 13 | He decided that the only way to avoid spending the rest of his life in the workhouse was to exhibit himself as a freak , and so he offered himself to Sam Torr , who ran a music-hall , the Gaiety Palace of Varieties . |
| 14 | He raised his wings and pulled them back a little , bent his head forward , slightly opened his beak , and lunged forward and down at the white flesh of the hand that was pushing itself with a piece of sandwich through the front bars of his cage . |
| 15 | Essentially he was establishing himself as a figure of imperial stature , as his gold coinage reveals . |
| 16 | The third case resulted from the willingness and need of the firm to take work from any source while it was establishing itself in a new market . |
| 17 | So he resorted to an old favourite , which was to imagine himself as a First World War fighter ace engaged in an aerial duel with an enemy pilot . |
| 18 | He needed , essentially , to become a Freeman of the City of London — and the most direct route for him , considering he had served no appropriate apprenticeship , was to buy himself into a livery company first . |
| 19 | ‘ The first time I met Samantha , ’ Bob says , ‘ I 'll never forget this , she was surrounded by these six guys and she was funking herself with a vibrator . |
| 20 | Two young women were in the room ; one was reading a magazine , the other was stuffing herself into a tight corset of black vinyl that appeared to be a part of a stylised nun 's costume . |
| 21 | He had no time for the cant of the priests about sin , but he knew , as he lay in the barracks hearing the grunts and panting of his companions , that he was honing himself for a superior form by refusing his body . |
| 22 | The first creature we had seen , a small turtle , was sunning itself on a rock as we climbed into a canoe and paddled and drifted round the green-speared edge of the lake . |
| 23 | I was committing myself to a policy . ’ |
| 24 | Her decision was extremely painful , for Beatrice believed ( as it happened incorrectly ) that she was committing herself to a celibate life for ever : |
| 25 | Without a word , the nun ushered them through the broad , thick oak door and into a tiled hall , there to be confronted by a statue of the Virgin Mary with the Child in her arms , and above her , on the wall , a large crucifix hanging at such an angle it appeared that Christ 's bent head was viewing Himself as a child in His mother 's arms . |
| 26 | In 1964 Mr Wilson presented himself as a radical figure , but by 1974 he was comparing himself to a family doctor , and hoped , in his own words , ‘ to achieve … peace and quiet for the country ’ . |
| 27 | The last thing he wanted was to turn himself into a do-gooder , but he realized very quickly that most of the volunteers were genuinely and sincerely opening their hearts and homes . |
| 28 | With Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa established as the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party 's liberal wing in the nomination race , Clinton 's strategy , like that of Bob Kerrey , was to present himself as a " new " alternative offering change from the party 's past ( see p. 38427 ) . |
| 29 | But not too many of those who reckoned she should be pitting herself alongside the professionals recognised that she was putting herself through a far tougher ordeal by playing in a junior championship where she had everything to lose , nothing to gain . |
| 30 | He was preparing himself for a British Council tour of France but it was cancelled at the last moment ; he did , however , fly to Amsterdam and then on to Rome in December under the auspices of the same organization . |