Example sentences of "had [been] [art] first [prep] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Sir Edmond had been the first of the Goldsmiths to found a School but his example was soon followed . |
| 2 | Lithuania had been the first of the Soviet republics to declare independence , in March 1990 , and during the coup its two Baltic neighbours followed suit , Estonia on 20 August and Latvia on 21 August . |
| 3 | Dixon , who campaigned upon the promise to " clean City Hall out not with a broom , but a shovel " , had been the first of the candidates to call for Barry 's resignation . |
| 4 | That had been the first of many occasions when a baby in her care collapsed suddenly and surprisingly , said Mr Goldring . |
| 5 | Poland 's June 1989 elections , based on the April 1989 round table agreement [ see pp. 36577-79 ; 36722-24 ] , had been the first in eastern Europe to break the Communist monopoly on power , but only 35 per cent of seats in the Sejm and all seats in the Senate had been freely contested ( all , bar one in the Senate , being won by Solidarity candidates ) . |
| 6 | Matthei had been in post since 1978 , but in the late 1980s he had been the first among the military leadership to recognize the strength of the democratic opposition and the inevitability of political change and , as a result , began to distance himself from the military hardliners . |