Example sentences of "[was/were] [v-ing] [verb] [pn reflx] [prep] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | The institutional , legal and procedural definition of convocation had not been clear in 1307 nor was it finally resolved by 1327 : the clergy were struggling to free themselves from the enveloping quicksand of parliament , the king 's high court , and to reach the firm ground of an autonomous clerical assembly , no part of the king 's court ( with all that that implied ) and free from the intimidating presence , or intrusion , of those royal councillors who were laymen . |
| 2 | Chapman took over at Leeds at a time when professional footballers were beginning to assert themselves as an organized body of workers . |
| 3 | In 1850 she was noticed by the artist Walter Deverell , who asked her to sit for him and a group of young friends who were beginning to distinguish themselves as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood . |
| 4 | By the following year , as a result of mortgage and foreclosures , the manifest favouritism shown to French squatters and the pressures of population , peasants in Tonkin were having to feed themselves on average from the product of just over one-third of an acre of padi per head : in some localities barely a fifth . |
| 5 | … why am I writing all this out as if I were trying to assimilate myself to her ? |
| 6 | In some ways Donaldson realised that it was he that was actually doing all the learning-Bobo was using a vocabulary that she 'd already acquired , whilst he was struggling to adapt himself to it . |
| 7 | It had grounds for such fears , since it was struggling to legitimize itself as the Palestinian representative and did not wish this to be challenged by any independent local movement . |
| 8 | As Tolstoy himself concedes , in The Minister and the Massacres ( p 44 ) : Neither Gen Krasnov nor any other old emigre was seeking to extricate himself from sharing whatever fate attended those of their comrades who were in the equivocal position of being Soviet citizens . |
| 9 | Unconsciously perhaps Jeanne was seeking to free herself from her narrow and oppressively respectable bourgeois family . |
| 10 | She was deciding to devote herself to supporting him as he leapt from one peak to another . |
| 11 | During September there were signs that Jordan was attempting to distance itself from Iraq in order to restore relations with its former allies in the Gulf . |
| 12 | The hoverspeeder , its motors still idling , was attempting to wedge itself into the hole in the wall which Daak must have made with the vehicle 's front thrusters . |
| 13 | True , she was going to leave herself with one very big headache with regard to her mortgage , but even that was not unsurmountable . |
| 14 | God , if anyone was going to kill themselves after that , it was me — me , Inspector — not him . ’ |
| 15 | Émile was going to revenge himself on Jean-Claude for what he regarded as his arrogance . |
| 16 | It seemed to Talbot that Van Gelder was going to find himself in something of a quandary . |
| 17 | He needed all his skill and tact if he was going to extricate himself from this situation and spend the night sleeping in his hotel bed , alone . |
| 18 | But I was going to keep myself under control whatever he said . |
| 19 | When , in a remarkable act of cultural smash-and-grab , working-class youths adopted the long drape jackets as their own uniform — to which they added embellishments such as greased duck-tail haircuts , thick-soled ‘ brothel creeper ’ shoes , slim-jim ties and narrow drain-pipe trousers — no self-respecting gentleman was going to adorn himself in what had now become a vulgar ‘ Ted suit ’ . |
| 20 | I sat numbly by the open window , with my legs pressed together , my arms hugging my sides and my hands gripping each other , to combat the sensation that I was going to shake myself to pieces . |
| 21 | ‘ He 's a manager , your dad , is n't he ? ’ asked Jamie Shepherd a few minutes later as they bounced round a corner with the old van rattling as if it was going to shake itself to bits at any moment . |
| 22 | He could feel the vibrations in his bones ; juddering the cradle he was strapped into , making him think for a moment that the tiny vehicle was going to shake itself to pieces . |
| 23 | Dust was beginning to deposit itself over his furniture , while the kitchen floor needed scrubbing where he had dropped an egg on it . |
| 24 | Doyle was beginning to fancy himself as a small-time connoisseur of Modern Alternative Art . |
| 25 | To his relief he found he was above the trees and looking down into a murkiness that was beginning to map itself below him into defined and recognizable shapes . |
| 26 | They alighted on Saddam Hussein of Iraq , who in the late 1970s was beginning to portray himself as a man of moderation who might be able to make himself useful to the West , not least by acting as a counter to now-revolutionary Iran . |
| 27 | His belly was beginning to pull itself into painful spasms . |
| 28 | ‘ Who are we expecting , then ? ’ said Sally-Anne , who , like all good servants , was beginning to identify herself with her employers , and was one reason for her surprising success as a maid of all work . |
| 29 | Now , he was having to unveil himself for nothing more than curious inspection . |
| 30 | As he hugged her brusquely to him , she was aware of the tense muscles of his jawline against her cheek , and knew what an effort he was making to hold himself in check . |