Example sentences of "he could have been [v-ing] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | ‘ Nevertheless , it is strange that he should keep such a sum on current account , when he could have been earning two per cent interest . ’ |
| 2 | Matata poled gracefully ; he could have been punting down the Cam as his pole pushed blue and white water lilies aside . |
| 3 | He could have been looking . |
| 4 | He could have been composing rubbish for all I was competent to judge , yet that possibility did not enter my head . |
| 5 | He could have been warning his receptionist off the line or switching off — or on — a recording device . |
| 6 | He could have been writing about van Gogh . |
| 7 | Spent ten years writing L'Idiot de la famille when he could have been writing Maoist tracts . |
| 8 | ‘ It 's not a pleasant thought that he could have been listening to , and taping , our conversations . ’ |
| 9 | Speaking at the service in St Nicholas 's Church , Sunderland , Tyne and Wear , he said Sgt Forth , 34 , was killed on a night when he could have been enjoying the festivities at a friend 's wedding . |
| 10 | ‘ The evidence extends only as far as the lower scapula , does it not ’ He could have been wearing an off-the-shoulder toga . ’ |
| 11 | ‘ He could have been taking bills . ’ |
| 12 | He could have been walking on another planet The flat , moonlight illuminated landscape , interrupted by large and small pools of bright water seemed unreal . |
| 13 | ‘ From the position of the body I think he could have been sitting on the edge of the bed . |
| 14 | ‘ He could have been sitting here instead of me . ’ |
| 15 | That meant he could have been sitting there , looking at her , for all that time . |
| 16 | ‘ No one … ’ began Sally-Anne passionately , thinking of all that she had seen since arriving in Vetch Street — the poor creatures in Dr Neil 's surgery , and the even poorer ones who could not afford to go there — and of Dr Neil 's own selflessness letting people off their bills , so that only the small income he still received from an aunt 's legacy allowed him to keep going at all , when he could have been revelling with Stair . |
| 17 | Not that we worried about that per se , but he could have been carrying our wages . |
| 18 | While agreeing broadly with the England manager 's summing-up of the present Brazilian team , the thought did occur that in another footballing era he could have been describing an Italian side — brilliant in breakaways but giving nothing away at the back . |
| 19 | He could have been smiling at anyone . |
| 20 | ‘ Well , he could have been defending his own , ’ Theodora said . |
| 21 | He could have been giving a traffic broadcast . |
| 22 | He could have been talking about Ken Mentle . |
| 23 | He was speaking about Yugoslavia — but he could have been talking about the appalling scenes in Somalia or other parts of Africa . |
| 24 | ‘ I ca n't imagine what he could have been doing to get cut about like that , but it was n't falling out of a canoe , that I am sure of , ’ she finished , leaning against the low white-painted bookcase in his study . |
| 25 | He was dead to the world , so deeply asleep that she wondered what on earth he could have been doing half the night . |
| 26 | I mean , there was nowhere else he could have been going . |
| 27 | He could have been crying for his mummy . |
| 28 | He could have been leading a parade , twirling the baton . |
| 29 | He could have been plummeting down to the centre of the earth , in a submarine nudging over the seabed or flying soundlessly through outer space . |