Example sentences of "[modal v] hardly be [verb] [prep] [be] " in BNC.
Next pageNo | Sentence |
---|---|
1 | The Prince of Wales could hardly be said to be a good luck symbol at the moment . |
2 | The Germans , defeated , suffering every form of deprivation , were not and could hardly be expected to be enthusiastic about dismantling the only source of their livelihood and handing it over to the hated Russians . |
3 | Bruges goes to bed early and can hardly be said to be throbbing with night-life . |
4 | Quite obviously the playwright has largely pre-empted negotiation of this kind ; also , a theatrical performance can hardly be said to be a social interaction in a normal sense as the actor 's concern is to describe to someone outside the interaction on stage — to the spectator . |
5 | The development of computer-based public access systems to the holdings of one or more libraries , together with advances in online bibliographic searching , have increasingly led to the use of CAI programmes for user training , yet use of CAI programmes can hardly be said to be widespread . |
6 | But any magazine that retains a nonagenarian film critic and a weekly cartoonist who has entered his eighth decade can hardly be said to be immature . |
7 | Conversely , a spirit of self-criticism and renewal can hardly be said to be absent from the religious sphere when one of the problems faced by institutionalized orthodoxies has been to contain the eruption of reform and sectarian revolt . |
8 | She moves ( for example ) between speaking of the crucifixion of Christ ( fact ) to the cosmic nature of Christ — which can hardly be said to be ‘ true ’ in the sense of an empirically known fact . |
9 | And a further principle was established — that of ‘ conflict of interest ’ , in which a manager who advises an artist to sign with his own recording and music publishing companies can hardly be said to be acting impartially , or necessarily in the best interests of his client . |
10 | Instead it turns out to be very much concerned with rhetoric , which can hardly be said to be new for this age or even essentially syntactic . |
11 | He said , trades council delegates can hardly be deemed to be representative of the broad interests of our movement . |
12 | Novelists can hardly be expected to be au fait with international law and religion . |
13 | The merits of a planning application lodged in August 1988 can hardly be expected to be judged on the basis of a yet to be prepared and approved Structure Plan Review and District-wide Local Plan , both of which will address a future Development Plan time period . |
14 | For example , second-hand goods can hardly be expected to be in perfect condition . |