Example sentences of "had been [v-ing] [prep] the " in BNC.

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1 We had been taking into the adult wards men and women suffering from the most serious fevers , encephalitis lethargica , polio-encephalitis , serious poliomyelitis , with two ‘ Iron lung ’ cases in a special isolation ward and unit , tuberculous meningitis , and poliomeningitis were also with us .
2 In 1962 H. H. Hess , of Princeton University in the USA , published a radical explanation for much of the geological data that had been accumulating over the previous decade or so .
3 Her husband had been serving in the British Merchant Navy on the Russian Convoy run but after 1943 he was receiving psychiatric treatment in Shropshire somewhere for his nerves .
4 Then Andy took his wedge , which he had been swinging for the last ten minutes , and hit the perfect , or apparently perfect shot , straight at the flag .
5 Cormack had been swinging on the bar stool , fingering his wallet because Amanda 's appetite for food and drink had made his credit cards nervous , when he 'd seen the man in the raincoat in reception and the beer had spilled over his hand and left wet stains on the varnish for the boy to polish away .
6 The witness said Gary had been swinging on the metal posts on May 11 when they collapsed on his chest .
7 The report focused on a United States pharmaceutical company , Velsicol Chemical Corporation , which had been exporting to the Third World large quantities of chlordane and heptachlor , " two of the most highly toxic persistent and bio-accumulative insecticides ever made " according to the report .
8 Breeze had been gazing at the lights for so long that she was quite dazzled .
9 While Francis had been gazing into the unseeable distance , the wall had extended several metres across the clearing .
10 In the early hours of Sunday 13 February 1692 , Captain Campbell , from a clan hostile to the Macdonalds , along with 120 of his soldiers , whom the Macdonalds had been entertaining for the previous fortnight , suddenly fell upon their hosts and butchered them , shooting Macdonald himself in the back and killing nearly 70 men , women and children .
11 She and Jack had been swimming in the Thames near Twickenham .
12 Children were playing on the green , a wet labrador that had been swimming in the beck was drying out by the village cross , and there was just room amongst the people sat at the table outside the pub for one man and his dog .
13 Robert could not have said why , but he had the strong impression that the engineering master , too , had been listening at the door .
14 He looked as though he had been there for some time , and Shelley had a funny feeling that he was looking studiously down to hide the fact that he had been listening at the door to her conversation with Mrs Richards .
15 At this Maria Candida , who had been listening on the stairs , let out a wail of joy at the thought that she would be seeing Portugal again ; Leonora went to embrace her daughter and whisper her blessings , while Gerald , who knew when he was beaten and was never any good in emotional situations , announced that he had important business in the castle yard , and would return as soon as he had attended to it .
16 Since he 'd arrived at Montpelier Square he had been listening for the slightest movement elsewhere in the flat .
17 For some time Leonard had been listening to the music of the day , which he shared with his mother and sister .
18 George Underwood : ‘ It was all instigated by David really , because he had been listening to the World Service on the radio and suddenly got the bug to get involved in American Football , and he wrote to the American Embassy asking for more information .
19 Thiercelin , for instance , had no idea of the fact that they had been listening to the work of the greatest composer of the day .
20 ‘ He 's not your servant , miss , ’ said Zillah , who had been listening to the conversation .
21 Obviously he had been listening to the battle .
22 The officer commanding the militia had been listening to the conversation between the two men with growing unease .
23 Loretta turned to find that Geoffrey Simmons had been listening to the conversation .
24 Ali had been listening to the discussion .
25 He had been listening from the doorway ; now he marched into the room and glared at Mr Evans , his eyes hot with anger .
26 Robyn took a sip and wished she had been listening from the beginning .
27 The other teachers had been drifting towards the fire , anticipating , perhaps , a bit of an argy about beating , or a discussion of the pros and cons of Europe .
28 On the seminary hill a strange edifice had been constructing over the last previous months .
29 The loss of Ozawa was seen by many as a serious blow to Kaifu 's position , not least because it removed the chief architect of the process of co-operation between the LDP , Komeito and the DSP which Ozawa had been constructing in the Diet .
30 On the first day the West Indian bowlers had been sparing with the bouncer , for on such a pitch there was no need for it .
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