Example sentences of "it had [been] a [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | It had been a bumpy ride , through the tail end of a thunderstorm . |
| 2 | It had been a narrow escape and I was impressed . |
| 3 | It had been a major error of judgement on the part of Lenin and the Bolshevik leadership , disregarding Lenin 's earlier warnings that it could not be assumed in any country that class issues would automatically supersede national ones . |
| 4 | Among the issues raised by this case were how the court was to go about deciding exactly what powers Parliament had intended to give to the GLC in relation to London Transport ; whether the GLC owed a duty to its ratepayers not to spend the rates on large subsidies for travellers ; whether the GLC was entitled to implement its cheap fares policy just because it had been a major issue in the recent GLC elections ; the extent to which central government ought to control local authority spending ; whether and to what extent public transport ought to be treated as a public service or , on the other hand , as a business which has to break even or make a profit . |
| 5 | Despite the peaceful outcome it had been a major operation . |
| 6 | What if it had been a real rapist ? ’ |
| 7 | Dane Jacobsen was one of the best known and most accomplished actors of his generation , so it had been a real coup for the tiny television station to secure his services for a drama serial on the Vikings , to be shot in Cumbria . |
| 8 | She just sat on the stairs eating biscuit after biscuit until , just before midnight , the telephone rang and she heard the voice of the surgeon telling her that the operation was over , that it had been a complete success and that Paul was likely to make a rapid recovery It was after that call that Annette realised that she had steadily munched her way through two and a half packets of biscuits . |
| 9 | The day before was a blur ; it had been a complete blank . |
| 10 | I always intended to , but I wanted a reason or some credibility to go back with , so that our gesture was n't completely fruitless or looked as if it had been a complete waste of time . |
| 11 | It had been a marvellous wedding party and it was followed by a wedding night that she knew she would never forget . |
| 12 | Judy , who has been at the pub for just over a year , spent thousands of pounds refurbishing the Grey Horse and it had been a long-time ambition to run a pub of her own . |
| 13 | Fortunately , it had been a small iceberg , as icebergs go . |
| 14 | I did not sleep well that night : it had been a great day and the call of the wild kept me nervous and excited . |
| 15 | Since it had been a great success when read aloud to ‘ our local club ’ , Tolkien had absolute confidence in submitting it to the publisher of The Hobbit , Stanley Unwin . |
| 16 | It had been a great relief to learn from the lawyers that Sunset Cottage , Overclyst , their new home , was already furnished . |
| 17 | It had been a great moment . |
| 18 | All three teachers were adamant that despite the lack of time for consultation , the lack of space and resources and other problems that had nothing to do with the curricular rationale behind the project , it had been a great success . |
| 19 | Kenneth thought it had been a great year . |
| 20 | It had been a great directorship . |
| 21 | it had been a great patrol during which we had made a lot of new friends , carried out a great deal of work en route and broken into completely new territory for the cutters . |
| 22 | As the neighbours started to emerge later in the day , everyone agreed it had been a great San Juan . |
| 23 | Mr Devlin said afterwards it had been a great day in Yarm 's history . |
| 24 | Time was now important to him : it had been a lazy year and , as he had told Levy , there was still work for him to do . |
| 25 | Not till 18 October 1144 could Ste Barbe be enthroned in Durham by Fitzherbert , after gradually winning over Earl Henry and the local lay feudatories ; it had been a savage struggle , though lurid partisan denunciations of Cumin 's atrocities are probably exaggerated . |
| 26 | It had been a splendid meal . |
| 27 | It had been a gloomy day which suddenly burst into splendour in the evening , the clouds rising behind the fields in the setting sun like mountains ( if only they had been ! ) and above , a darkening amethyst sky with — the finishing touch — a rose pink filigree disc of a moon foreshadowing the peace and perfection of a moonlit night . |
| 28 | It had been a remote possibility , but it had existed . |
| 29 | It had been a close thing . |
| 30 | But it had been a close call . |