Example sentences of "[was/were] they [prep] the [noun sg] " in BNC.

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1 Mm , were they on the dock ?
2 Rye is officially what is called an ‘ Ancient Town ’ attached to the Cinque Ports , those small ports along the coasts of Kent and East Sussex which were fortified against the French ; so necessary were they to the Crown that , in 1278 , they were given legal privileges : exemption from taxes , the right to rule themselves and appoint their own judges .
3 Ceauşescu was happy to meet this condition : for him , as for any true follower of Lenin , a trade union was ‘ a transmission belt of authority ’ ; if the union officials could not get the workers to meet their targets , failed to anticipate strikes , and then did not resolve them at once , what use were they to the regime ?
4 They would lie like flatfish to protect each other from parental awareness , and so certain were they of the rightness of their cause — which was , in many cases , the pursuit of uninterrupted idleness and pleasure — that no one could disbelieve them .
5 How old were they in the family ?
6 Were they in the cellar ?
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