Example sentences of "they had [adv] been [v-ing] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | They had n't been hunting it . |
| 2 | Pavel knew that he 'd not been the best company but then , they had n't been treating this job as anything particularly special . |
| 3 | They had n't been working on the slate face , they had n't worked any slate , but they were doing all right on the tables , you know on the sawing the slate up for the others . |
| 4 | Much of the technology used in the Macintosh came via Xerox 's Palo Alto Research Centre where they had also been investigating page printing technology and methods of transferring complex graphics between screens and the printed page . |
| 5 | They had also been floating in a jar of pickle in the curiobiological museum down in the cellars of Unseen University , since live salamanders were extinct around the Circle Sea . |
| 6 | They had lain dormant for some years after she had left the cottage , but he knew now they had simply been growing in the warm darkness of his being where love bred … |
| 7 | They had clearly been leading up to this all week . |
| 8 | The defendants admitted that they had both been drinking heavily on the night of the offences . |
| 9 | They had both been attending a seminar on judicial sentencing at a northern university , Berowne to open it formally with a brief speech , Dalgliesh to represent the police interest ; and they had travelled by rail in the same first class compartment . |
| 10 | To some degree they had already been catering for children with special needs . |
| 11 | Patients randomised to the tablet groups were advised to continue their pre-trial diets — unless they had already been taking a high fibre diet — in which case they were encouraged to reduce their fibre intake during the trial . |
| 12 | Tsu Ma 's eyes had never left Li Shai Tung 's face , yet they had not been seeing him . |
| 13 | And no , they had not been expecting to see her that weekend , though with Giles away she had said she might come on the Sunday . |
| 14 | It was obvious from the way the staring eyes blinked , both Pairs together , that they had not been expecting an answer . |
| 15 | However months later he was able to start talking about his wife and the fact that they had not been getting on for some time and had begun divorce proceedings . |
| 16 | He had laughed at the time , but the way his stomach was behaving now , he began to fear they had not been jesting . |
| 17 | Can you imagine the effect on a monthly medal field if the members dropped out on the basis that they had not been playing well and they felt they were unable to stand the pressure ? |
| 18 | They had not been dreaming . |
| 19 | They had not been talking about the Dane , but she felt disinclined to revert to a discussion about the ease with which Vitor could persuade her to go to bed with him . |
| 20 | They had even been giving trouble during the morning and had still not been put right . |
| 21 | I was sorry for Jennifer but they had only been going out for a month or so , and not terribly seriously . |
| 22 | I saw the evil light in his eyes and knew that so far they had only been playing with me : their real intent was to kill . |
| 23 | The implication of moral blackmail in robbing patient services to pay nurses remained a ghost at the banquet for the media , and for many nurses , who had still to reconcile the jobs they had perhaps been doing for years with the management 's idea of their responsibilities , and the clinical grade to which they aspired . |
| 24 | It should be added here that the high clergy hardly recognized that they had actually been exercising a political religious power of a specifically sectarian or monopolistic type . |
| 25 | Suddenly , above the shouting , shots and noise of battle , the neighing of horses , creaking wheels and ringing harness , came the sound they had all been dreading : the thin , sharp crackle of ice giving way under strain . |
| 26 | Soon after England began their reply there was a bad-light hold-up — probably unnecessary if they had all been wearing Bolle ‘ lifter ’ lenses — and upon resumption , Gooch and Stewart had to brace themselves against a torrid onslaught from Waqar , menace in every step of his run-up , and Akram , who bounded in and flung down something resembling Ivanisevic 's curving left-handed tennis serve , if only 30mph or so less swift . |
| 27 | This was why they had all been calling him ‘ sir ’ . |
| 28 | They had all been drinking , but she felt safer with them than alone . |
| 29 | I felt betrayed ; I had never thought of all my friends noticing my weight , and that they had all been thinking of me as a fat person . |
| 30 | He said he had thought they had all been fighting on the German side because they had all been under a German commander when surrendering . |