Example sentences of "i [vb past] been a [noun] " in BNC.

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1 But I realised I 'd been a bit heavy .
2 ‘ Educationally and professionally , I 'd been a bit of a prodigy — always the youngest in my league .
3 I 'd been a bit dithery for a few days , sort of clumsy and absentminded , as you often get when you 're feeling under the weather .
4 I thought that maybe I 'd been a bit harsh last night . ’
5 In answer to Merrill 's questioning face , he went on , ‘ I think I once told you that I 'd been a bit — wild .
6 ‘ If only I 'd been a bit more sophisticated when we first got married . ’
7 Ever since I 'd been a youngster , watching and playing football , Hibs have held an important place in the game .
8 My mother thought if I 'd been a boy Dad would have lived with us and been grand , or at least people would have noticed us .
9 But it 's kind of a shame , because I 'm only one element of blackness that you can see on television , and I 'll tell you , if I 'd been a kid and seen someone like me on telly , I 'd be a hell of a lot happier about the way I am in this world . ’
10 At Old Street , I passed the Gym ‘ n ’ Tonic health club — I 'd been a member there until an embarrassing incident one evening in the female jacuzzi — then turned up towards Islington proper .
11 If I 'd been a union member I might have held out for a better offer or some redundancy money , but I was n't , so that was that .
12 I would n't have got to wear this if I 'd been a factory worker . ’
13 I 'd been a partner for 10 years , I was 43 and could see another 17 years of PW partnership ahead of me .
14 I might hope to be a better grandfather than I 'd been a father . ’
15 ‘ I suppose I could have got action like that if I 'd been a count , ’ she mused .
16 So he called me up and asked me if I wanted to play it , which was incredibly flattering because I 'd been a fan of his for such a long time .
17 We come back from and we 're in the car and erm they 're talking about guns see , I said well you ou , you know our Harry was R S M like you know , I said you wan na ask Ha Ha Harry I said been a soldier all his life .
18 I just wish I had been a man , that 's all .
19 Last time I had been a fool enough to close French doors and knew they were there only frantic moments later , when I saw blood spatter my wrists and hands , like a fly buzzing , like a bird beating against the see-through reality .
20 I explained that I had not entered at the right time because I had been a hostage in Iraq .
21 And I knew I had been a child when I first came to live with him .
22 He had been curled up there , dead in his basket , since I had been a child in a velvet-collared coat .
23 I think it was his fourth , but as I had been a child during this proliferation of fiancées I was n't certain .
24 Mr Singh , a Kenyan Asian , confessed to me , after I had been a friend of the family for several years , that he was neither fluent in Swahili , the language of his education up to 13 , nor in Punjabi , his mother tongue .
25 I had been a gang leader in Harehills — first administering the lives of younger children , then by brass , bossiness and imagination extending judgement even over older boys .
26 In the early days I had been a bit disappointed that the NUJ had n't immediately leapt to John 's defence , but ever since I had first been to see the General Secretary , Harry Conroy , and his assistant , Tom Nash , the union had done what it could to respond to what was asked of them .
27 I had been a vessel of pure water and I had been spilled .
28 If I had been a marquis , I felt , I would still have been in bed or perhaps just parting the curtains and peering out to see what kind of day it was But Lord Hulton worked all the time , just about as hard as any of his men .
29 In any case , it is too difficult for me , and I wish I had been a movie comedian or something of the sort and had never heard of physics ’ .
30 So I had been a visitor , and an occasional attender at the X-ray Department , but all that was spread over many years .
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