Example sentences of "[pers pn] had had [art] [adj] [noun] " in BNC.

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1 Although I had had a substantial measure of success , it was a back-breaking activity : it involved the pouring of oceans of hypocritical praise on the undeserving ; attributing powers of discernment and discrimination to the ignorant and myopic ; and only occasionally striking gold in the form of sufficient understanding to make the toil of persuasion unnecessary .
2 My personal life had been a disaster : I had had a lousy relationship with my mother ; been frightened of my father ; from time to time my marriage had been close to the rocks and I had been an uncaring father .
3 My letter was published in full , and I was pleased with myself , for two good reasons : my first literary effort had been accepted ; and I had had a good swipe at the evils of fascism , judging by the stream of supporting letters which followed .
4 For some years I had had a similar experience in the teaching of literature , amazed to see colleagues attempting to hound students , in the context of a two- or three-year course , through complex texts in a single session : today we read King Lear , tomorrow we discuss it , and next day you write your essays on it .
5 In my grandmother 's house I had had a big bedroom ; here I had to share .
6 Over the years , in my role as home tutor to his mother , I had had a privileged relationship with Balbinder and his family .
7 I could see the room beginning to spin as though I had had a dreadful shock or a moment of unbearable fear .
8 I had had a sudden image of Syl bringing me breakfast in a bed which we had shared , and I heard myself saying aloud , ‘ No ! ’
9 I had had a whole afternoon spent upon me , been the centre of attention , cost the State a fortune and my wife had given up a whole day of precious work to be with me .
10 From the mid-sixties I had had a homosexual identity and I did say to people that I was homosexual ; but in the early seventies that had a completely different meaning .
11 I considered I had had a sheltered upbringing — perhaps ‘ genteel ’ is nearer the mark — but she came from the world of country weekends , day and night nurseries , nannies , and never having to worry about where next week 's housekeeping money was coming from , or having to do the washing up .
12 This remark , occurring as it does in a passage in which he is distinguishing between the grounds of the class metal ( ‘ the possession of certain common peculiarities ’ ) and those of the class sensation of white ( ‘ nothing but resemblance ’ ) clearly implies that if I had had no other sensations of white I could not assert the proposition ‘ This is a sensation of white ’ with the meaning it has when I have had such sensations .
13 At that stage in my life , I had had no real careers guidance and had very little idea of what I wanted to do or what I was capable of .
14 Until that moment Aunt Louise had seemed almost a stranger , her mannerisms and glances unfamiliar , and I had had no real feeling of kinship .
15 Immediately I was instructed that I had had the good fortune to be posted to ‘ the division where real polising is done … ’
16 Twenty four hours before admission she had had a transitional mole removed from her back under local anaesthesia in the outpatient department .
17 She had had a long treatment session , and then decided , possibly over-ambitiously , to visit her brother for tea , walking part of the way .
18 She had had a good time in her twenties : a good job as a doctor 's receptionist ( she had gone against the general rule for the species by being warm and sympathetic , though she stood no more nonsense than was inescapable ) .
19 She had had a gruelling day on top of a gruelling six months .
20 True , she had had a pleasant bed-sitting room , and Mrs White had cooked for her and always been welcoming , but on some cold summer evenings , sitting in her Lloyd Loom armchair by a gas fire , turned low for reasons of economy , Agnes had experienced some bleakness .
21 She had had a criminal abortion somewhere .
22 They had said at the school she had had a screaming session .
23 At eighteen — the period of the mousseline de soie dress — she had found herself hanging around a certain area of Twickenham , where they were then living , in the hopes of encountering the doctor 's son , with whom she had had a strangled conversation at some social gathering .
24 She gave this powerful sense of her character 's emotional repression , and the sense was there that she had had a hard life .
25 What if she had had a threatening letter which worried her enough to make her turn to pills ? ’
26 Anyone acting out of character worried her in this way , until she had had a silent time alone , to work it out and grow used to the change .
27 All her life she had had a clear vision of who she was and where she was going .
28 Twenty-three-year-old Jill Yate took the opportunity of telling her boss that , although she had had a wonderful year travelling around Europe , she was beginning to feel homesick and would soon be going back to the United States .
29 She had had a wonderful time and took an extra turn of the floor .
30 ‘ She said she had had a wonderful time and liked the people of Merseyside , so I hope this unfortunate incident does n't remain in her mind . ’
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