Example sentences of "so [adj] [conj] a [noun sg] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | From time to time there are cases where the provocation is so gross and so strong that a court imposes a very short prison sentence or even a suspended sentence for the manslaughter — typically , cases where a wife , son , or daughter kills a persistently bullying husband or father — and such cases raise the more general question of whether provocation should ever be a complete defence to homicide or to other crimes . |
| 2 | To this day , public fascination with the disaster remains so strong that a flourishinhg market has developed for Titanic memorabilia . |
| 3 | He was so low that a wing-tip touched the ground , causing a ground loop . |
| 4 | As many as one in five of the population attends an accident and emergency unit every year , yet staff shortages are so acute that a quarter of the 239 units in England and Wales do not have a trained consultant in charge . |
| 5 | In the words of one of them , the background noise was so loud that a rifle shot sounded comparable to ‘ the popping of a champagne cork amid the hubbub of a banquet ’ . |
| 6 | I could fancy her if she was n't so old and a teacher . |
| 7 | Perhaps the target is so unrealistic that a short-fall is inevitable . |
| 8 | The demands of children can be so insistent that a mother never uses the odd quiet moment to sit down with them and enjoy their company ; the temptation is always to seek out the next task . |
| 9 | But seen from within , they appear to be like nothing so much as a mirror-image of the Elizabethan world picture : a little world , tightly organised into its own ranks and with its own rules , as rigid in its own way as the most elaborate protocol at court or ritual in church . |
| 10 | Would you prefer to move to a flat — one without so much as a balcony and with no windowsills — or to concrete your garden over and spend your days watching your neighbours at work ? |
| 11 | They now fight on a daily basis and invariably without so much as a warning growl . |
| 12 | However , it he takes as souvenir so much as a blade of grass the entrance to this charming kingdom will close forever more . |
| 13 | ‘ By the way , ’ she began , hardly able to credit that , when earlier that morning her car had been such a concern to her , great expanses of time should now elapse without her giving it so much as a thought , ‘ could you tell me the name of the garage where my car — ’ |
| 14 | This is not a question of whether the project can be funded indefinitely so much as a question of whether the initiatives in particular schools can maintain momentum once the project grant has been spent . |
| 15 | But by not so much as a flicker of an eyebrow did he betray his emotions . |
| 16 | This is that the policy was not an attack on the universities so much as a defence of their interests — whether or not correctly understood by officials and ministers . |
| 17 | Scarcely pausing for thought , she sat herself down at the keyboard and , without so much as a sheet of music to look at , launched into Rachmaninov 's Second Piano Concerto , blushing deeply to the round of spontaneous applause . |
| 18 | Having seen taxis north of Adrar , and then a couple of days ago , a convoy which had not so much as a compass , I had begun to think the desert not so terrible after all . |
| 19 | Every moment I was in a fever of anxiety lest I should be missing , by so much as a second , the vital news I both longed for and dreaded . |
| 20 | You see , ’ she went on earnestly , ‘ if you were to change the past by so much as a second , do just one minute thing differently , the results could be catastrophic . |
| 21 | The questions she had feared earlier seemed to be taking physical shape in the shadowy corners of the room , phantoms waiting to trap her if she dropped her guard for so much as a second . |
| 22 | The five minutes were almost up , and she would n't put it past Lori to leave if she was so much as a second late . |
| 23 | However , he concluded : ‘ Having to tackle reductions of this magnitude should not be seen so much as a threat to our way of life but as a challenge and an enormous opportunity for the world 's scientists , engineers and industrialists in both the developed and developing countries . ’ |
| 24 | without so much as a sign : |
| 25 | It 's quite possible that people shunned us not so much as a mark of outrage at what we had done , but to avoid the frustration of not being able to satisfy their curiosity about what exactly it was . |
| 26 | For there grow no Trees , no not so much as a Shrub on St. Kilda ’ . |
| 27 | They get between me and my patients , at any time , for so much as a nanosecond , and they 're out , I do n't care what it does to their scheduling . ’ |
| 28 | Not surprisingly , in their rush they were disinclined to hump mounds of electrical equipment into the west with them , and would now find themselves without so much as a guitar string to their name , were it not for the warm-hearted generosity of the British thrash metal community . |
| 29 | Doctor Tinsley , my old medical man , absolutely forbade me to lift any kind of weight , not so much as a shopping basket . ’ |
| 30 | This was Cultra , where an introduction was de rigueur before so much as a cocktail could be taken . |