Example sentences of "only to [be] [verb] that " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | It is only to be hoped that dispersals of any kind are restricted on the most severe criteria , and that money for acquisitions , storage and , perhaps most important , staff for cataloguing is not stinted . |
| 2 | It was only to be expected that a man who has written with such insight and style about Calcutta and New York , cricket and the crossing of deserts would do justice to a life-long passion . |
| 3 | It was only to be expected that the contestants would take note of this background information , in one way or another . |
| 4 | After an eight hour [ night ] patrol , it was only to be expected that the policeman would prefer resting to hanging around the courts waiting to bring petty offenders to book . |
| 5 | It was in any case only to be expected that a serious move by the Community to advance further through a reduction of national sovereignty and freedom to act independently would generate a nationalist opposition . |
| 6 | As some staff had been in the Dean Centre for much of their working lives , it was only to be expected that they would leave Belford Road behind with some regret . |
| 7 | But speculative source-study can reveal more about the reading of the scholar than about the actual text whose possible sources are the object of the exercise and , after all , it is only to be expected that those who share a faith will also share a way of expressing it . |
| 8 | It is only to be expected that these two rather different techniques , the Doppler shift technique and the " chirp radar " technique , would be useful for different special purposes . |
| 9 | Since each is a little different from its parent , it is only to be expected that each will be slightly more different from its grandparents ( and its grandchildren ) , and even more different still from its great grandparents ( and great grandchildren ) . |
| 10 | It is only to be expected that there are not too many IT experts around who could effectively advise policy makers and managers , and design IT systems . |
| 11 | It 's of course only to be expected that people should moan about the tax they 've got to pay and people always complain that it seems to go up every year . |
| 12 | There I enquired after Mrs Kelly , only to be told that she was dead ! |
| 13 | ( 29–30 September 1777 ) On 30 September Mozart finally had a chance to speak with the Elector , only to be told that there was no vacancy at court . |
| 14 | There was uproar when the Navy discovered the mines and Stirling had to own up , only to be told that they often dropped small depth charges at random into the harbour and if they saw anything suspicious sprayed the area with machine guns . |
| 15 | SAVE began by writing to the Department of Transport setting out the importance of the park , only to be told that a large number of representations had been made in favour of the proposed route . |
| 16 | In the Old Testament , Moses asked to see God , only to be told that ‘ no man can see God and live ’ . |
| 17 | I complained mightily , only to be told that the stone table was a well-intentioned afterthought , erected in recent times , and that it had been removed to restore the henge to its original form . |
| 18 | Tottenham were furious and protested to the League , only to be told that under wartime regulations it was perfectly in order . |
| 19 | When they arrived home , Liz quickly wrote to the curator of the castle 's museum to ask for a pattern of the dress , only to be told that it had been copied from an 1898 issue of the London Illustrated News . |
| 20 | Everything here fed his masochism — as he had known instinctively that it would when he applied for a similar position in the English coalfields some years before , only to be told that he was not mature enough . |
| 21 | In the words of others he springs into action as a political firebrand , marching into the coal-owners ' offices and demanding justice for their exploited work-force , only to be told that the coal seams were too meagre and the profit margin too small to provide improvements in safety standards . |
| 22 | He rang the bell , and was asked in by the maid — only to be told that the family were at dinner . |
| 23 | The sturdily independent high tech sector had naught for the comfort of either major party in the run-up to today 's by-election in Newbury , Berkshire when the big guns from party headquarters showed up for photocalls during the build-up : Labour chose Vodafone Group Plc and tried to commiserate about the recession , only to be told that business had been going gangbusters for several months , the Tories went looking for green shoots at Micro Focus Plc , only to be told that the UK market was flat on its back , and that it was only foreign sales that were keeping the old Coboller busy . |
| 24 | Captain Budd got through to the police station by telephone , only to be told that the constabulary had the situation well in hand . |
| 25 | ‘ Of course I 'll be joining you for Sunday tea , ’ he would say charmingly , then would purposely keep them waiting until , fretful and concerned , David would leave his place at the table to remind his stepfather , only to be told that they should : ‘ Start without me . |
| 26 | And there had been that other message … she had rung Cartier to speak to someone called Michael Watney , only to be told that there was no-one called Michael Watney working there , and did she mean Michael Courteny , and if so , would she hold on ? |
| 27 | So as soon as I could get away I went to your hotel , only to be told that you had left shortly after your colleagues . ’ |
| 28 | On arrival at Llandrindod we crossed over to the other platform to board the train which had arrived from Swansea — there being only nine minutes between arrival and departure — only to be told that we would have to go back on to the unit we had travelled up on . |
| 29 | May I inform him , as he has not answered my question , that the same careers service says that nothing has changed and that the same number of young people will not get YTS places , that many of them are fed up with turning up , only to be told that nothing is available and that the continued recession and closures mean that hundreds of them will have nothing to do ? |
| 30 | ‘ Sir Teddy Taylor , ’ he shouted , only to be told that Taylor had done his stuff the day before . |