Example sentences of "they had been [v-ing] the " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Reading it , the British discovered that they had been speaking the imperial equivalent of prose all their lives . |
| 2 | Since about 1840 they had been expanding the scope of their products to include the whole range of cotton-processing machinery . |
| 3 | ‘ Did you want me , Myra ? ’ she asked as calmly as if they had been discussing the weather and not within an ace of making either love or war . |
| 4 | ‘ They had been discussing the idea that a pet should be for life not just for Christmas and decided to take the idea a step further , ’ she said . |
| 5 | Whilst they had been watching the protesters , a waitress had come out of The Crossed Keys hotel on the corner of the square carrying a tray of interesting-looking glasses . |
| 6 | As the boats began to leave the mouth of the River Tees , where they had been barring the way to Teesport , they claimed their eight-hour show of strength had been a success . |
| 7 | More distressingly , we discovered that the Aru islands and the Greater Bird of Paradise were no longer on their trading routes and that for the last twenty years they had been pursuing the shorter and more profitable triangular passage between Celebes , Java and Borneo . |
| 8 | They had been defending the building for 31 days and there was blood on the floor . |
| 9 | Almost as if they had been awaiting the signal of an extra moon , they now took their prancings into a more intense phase . |
| 10 | Students who are entitled to transitional relief will receive ⅕ of the relief they would have received if they had been paying the full community charge . |
| 11 | For nearly a generation they had been resisting the introduction of written inventories of peasant obligations , whose purpose was to prevent noblemen treating serfs in the arbitrary manner to which they were accustomed . |
| 12 | They had been challenging the sailing colliers for a number of years and the movement of coal was so important that the nautical press carried a daily feature and report on the coal trade . |
| 13 | At the last , Britain 's ambassador to Constantinople abandoned the encouragement he had been giving the Turks and advised them to go on negotiating , but by this time neither Britain nor France was in a position to withdraw the backing which they had been giving the sultan . |
| 14 | Amiss suspected they had been hammering the port harder than ever the previous night . |
| 15 | Which of them had been reading The Book of Poisons ? |
| 16 | Some of them had been mopping the floor ; some washing plates and cups ; some just running , not carrying anything , but speedy and purposeful all the same . |