Example sentences of "[pers pn] had had a [adj] [noun sg] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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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 | So I wanted to get that memory out of the way and I was just happy that I had had a better game ’ . |
| 5 | 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 . |
| 6 | In my grandmother 's house I had had a big bedroom ; here I had to share . |
| 7 | Over the years , in my role as home tutor to his mother , I had had a privileged relationship with Balbinder and his family . |
| 8 | I could see the room beginning to spin as though I had had a dreadful shock or a moment of unbearable fear . |
| 9 | 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 ! ’ |
| 10 | 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 . |
| 11 | 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 . |
| 12 | 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 . |
| 13 | Twenty four hours before admission she had had a transitional mole removed from her back under local anaesthesia in the outpatient department . |
| 14 | She had had a long treatment session , and then decided , possibly over-ambitiously , to visit her brother for tea , walking part of the way . |
| 15 | 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 ) . |
| 16 | She had had a gruelling day on top of a gruelling six months . |
| 17 | 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 . |
| 18 | ‘ She had had a criminal abortion somewhere . |
| 19 | They had said at the school she had had a screaming session . |
| 20 | 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 . |
| 21 | She gave this powerful sense of her character 's emotional repression , and the sense was there that she had had a hard life . |
| 22 | What if she had had a threatening letter which worried her enough to make her turn to pills ? ’ |
| 23 | 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 . |
| 24 | All her life she had had a clear vision of who she was and where she was going . |
| 25 | 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 . |
| 26 | She had had a wonderful time and took an extra turn of the floor . |
| 27 | ‘ 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 . ’ |
| 28 | All this seems a very curious — indeed an eccentric — arrangement on the part of Nature who , if she had had a proper training in the theory of fibrous composite materials , would surely have known better . |
| 29 | Your arm was broken , and you had had a terrible bang on the head . |
| 30 | We had had a good dinner , and we were all in the mood for fun and games — all , that is , except Jackson . |