Example sentences of "[was/were] [v-ing] [adv] a [noun] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | The various fusion machines that a had been built were producing neutrons-supposedly a sign that fusion was taking place but the neutrons had nothing to do with thermonuclear reactions . |
| 2 | they were , they were doing a play or something and it , it mentioned about er , erm , what did it mention ? , it was a bit rude any way this play and it oh it was on about an erection or something and Geoffrey said his trousers his new trousers were sticking out a bit peculiar |
| 3 | But er when just before I left the polishing which was in nineteen thirty eight , er they were bringing in a lot of cellu it 's all th a lot of all this modern stuff is what they call cellulose , but I could n't tell you how it 's done , it 's done with a spray . |
| 4 | I answered , ‘ They were throwin' out a pile of ol' props n ’ costumes . ’ |
| 5 | He was involved in the same heavy round of duties as soon as he returned to London , however , and honorary positions were becoming increasingly a burden . |
| 6 | Jaguar talks : Jaguar and General Motors were thrashing out a deal to protect the luxury car maker from rival US motor giant Ford . |
| 7 | One particular sadistic character opened up his observation hatch while we were groping around a smoke filled tank , looked in with a satanic grin and shouted , " Ha ! |
| 8 | I told him we were softening up a bit . |
| 9 | There were a lot of mad parties — I 'd be invited to quite a few of them , and people were walking around a lot of the time saying : ‘ Hey man , I 'm an orange … . ’ |
| 10 | Out at the line-up , the three men were climbing over a routine thirty-five-footer when they heard screaming and the toot of car horns from the beach . |
| 11 | On the screen , three tiny shapes were climbing down a thread . |
| 12 | The main thing was that we were picking up a lot of hawking know-how , even if we did look ridiculous . |
| 13 | One minute they were pushing forward a couple of tentative singles on their own label ( The Far Out Recording Company ) , the next they were being pressganged by Polydor and trailed across the press following the release of their debut album , The Eight Legged Groove Machine . |
| 14 | It was a farce , a terrible play , but still a real play because these two were acting out a charade of fright and face-saving and if he did anything to break the illusion that they were still taking decisions for themselves then he was going to get himself shot . |
| 15 | They were acting out a version of one of Miss Austen 's stories , and it could go on by itself . |
| 16 | He shook his head quickly as if he were warding off a sneeze and concentrated on Jim , whose affable plasticine face now seemed sharper and more ambitious . |
| 17 | There was , Henry had noticed , a specially reverent way of saying ‘ thank you ’ when accepting a cheese and tomato sandwich at a funeral reception and he did not see why people should develop critical faculties just because they were swigging back a wine glass containing a fair quantity of the domestic bleach known as Finish 'Em . |
| 18 | When the people in Northern Ireland were listening to these matters on the radio , they were wondering why a statement was to be made . |
| 19 | I thought we were going on a bit . |
| 20 | and dashed out and fitted it , complete waste of bloody time mind you cos er we 've got the own software back in now , well actually the latest releases of it , we were going back a release because er we were having trouble , but it turns out it 's not our problem external problem so , put three dot seven back in . |
| 21 | I felt as if I were moving just a beat faster than everyone else . |
| 22 | I know you were kicking up a dust last night , the pair of you . |
| 23 | We appeared to have students of the same native wit coming to courses in the arts and the sciences and the technologies , and the technologies were requiring quite a lot of these colleges to kick off with unclassified degrees , and finally began to weaken a little , I think , when they found that business studies and art and design were doing no such thing . |
| 24 | They were getting on a bit when I was born . ’ |
| 25 | ‘ We were the good guys then , ’ said Mr M. ‘ We were sorting out a problem family for them . ’ |
| 26 | The routine on Melrose Ward had barely been established next morning , when Casualty rang to say they were sending up a woman with jaundice who had collapsed in the street . |
| 27 | When we arrived , Atlantic waves were breaking over a rock bar , surging with each swell through a narrow channel into the pool . |
| 28 | I thought things were hotting up a bit there . ’ |
| 29 | By 1986 things were hotting up a bit . |
| 30 | Down below , in the gallery below him and Hasan , the Husayn twins and Khan were dancing round a case stuffed with priceless porcelain . |