Example sentences of "he [was/were] [v-ing] [art] [noun sg] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | A police officer with a sheaf of papers before him was using the desk telephone presumably still checking alibis . |
| 2 | But what really did for him was losing a lot of money at Keyser Ullmann in the property crash of 1973 . |
| 3 | He had a curious , heavy growth of fur on the crown of his head , which gave him an odd appearance , as though he were wearing a kind of cap . |
| 4 | When he spoke it was as if he were dictating a letter to her , concentrating on the correctness of his grammar and syntax . |
| 5 | He now sounded as though he were beginning a lecture and I thought he must have learned that intonation from his tutors . |
| 6 | His movements were slow , his gaze abstracted , as if he were composing a poem in his head . |
| 7 | No other book so well demonstrates the influence of the cinema on Minton 's art : he conceived each design as if he were composing a frame , making frequent use of close-up and distortion . |
| 8 | The boy crooked one arm and stuck out the other as if he were holding a gun . |
| 9 | ‘ Ye-es , ’ said Linley as though he were considering the predicament with sympathy . |
| 10 | He had the disconcerting habit of using my name as if he were addressing a butler or a chauffeur . |
| 11 | Naturally Terry had hard-line views on all this , and as we changed for the show on that charged night he proclaimed them to the entire cast , as if he were addressing a meeting . |
| 12 | Pascoe felt as though he were seeing a moment from his future but could n't guess what he would feel when the moment arrived . |
| 13 | He felt he knew very little about her present feelings , which were so malign toward him and unmapped that it was as if he were seeing the back side of the moon . |
| 14 | He spoke with a total lack of melodrama , as though he were reciting a shopping list . |
| 15 | He worked as if he were roping a piece of luggage , barely looking at Tessa , not touching her unless he had to . |
| 16 | These were his friends but he felt unnatural in their company , as if he were acting a part . |
| 17 | He leant towards the young man now and , his voice dropping as if he were imparting a secret , he said , ‘ Do you know that they are one of the best brands sold by Harrods of London ? ’ |
| 18 | The sun , the clear sky , the bright colours , the prosperous look of this lively , airy university town and wine-growing capital ; the stalls massed with flowers ; fresh fish shining pink and gold and silver in shallow baskets ; cherries and apricots and peaches on the fruit barrows ; one stall piled with about a ton of little bunches of soup or pot-au-feu vegetables — a couple of slim leeks , a carrot or two , a long thin turnip , celery leaves , and parsley , all cleaned and neatly bound with a rush , ready for the pot ; another charcuterie stall , in the covered part of the market , displaying yards of fresh sausage festooned around a pyramid-shaped wire stand ; a fishwife crying pussy 's parcels of fish wrapped tidily in newspaper ; an old woman at the market entrance selling winkles from a little cart shaped like a pram ; a fastidiously dressed old gentleman choosing tomatoes and leaf artichokes , one by one , as if he were picking a bouquet of flowers , and taking them to the scales to be weighed ( how extraordinary that we in England put up so docilely with not being permitted by greengrocers or even barrow boys to touch or smell the produce we are buying ) ; a lorry with an old upright piano in the back threading round and round the market place trying to get out . |
| 19 | as if he were telling the story to someone else , Culley gave him a full account of what he 'd heard on the tape . |
| 20 | When they 'd moved in he 'd made a point of telling just about everybody where it was and how much it was costing — wincing a little at the same time , as if he were telling the story against himself and his own folly — but it had become a sterile kind of heaven , and he sat around in it like some forgotten angel . |
| 21 | The surgeon had sounded a note of amused condescension as though he were betraying a colleague 's unfortunate weakness , wryly observed , which a more prudent man would have detected before beginning his medical training , or at least would have come to terms with before his second year . |
| 22 | Fagg emitted an interesting glugging sound , rather as if he were repeating the name of the insulted Vietnamese over and over again . |
| 23 | While the others were talking of Hubert Molland , Peter had felt like a spectator at a play — as if he were watching a scene that had been rehearsed so many times that the actors spoke their lines mechanically , hardly caring about the meaning . |
| 24 | But at this moment it was as though he were watching a play … |
| 25 | Mary could see her father 's hand spread out before him as if he were sweeping a cloak : her father was now the man of property . |
| 26 | He sounded as if he were denying an affair . |
| 27 | The dun cock went down as the blue followed through , landing full-flush and kneading the gaffs on the dun 's heart as if he were working a treadle . |
| 28 | He wondered if he were making a mistake . |
| 29 | Urquhart tiptoed forward with a respectful air , as if he were approaching an altar . |
| 30 | It 's as if he were giving a performance of some character he 's dreamed up , and his pale eyes wander in search of effect even in his apparently wildest moments . ‘ |