Example sentences of "she [vb past] been [art] [adj] " in BNC.

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1 In the 1920s , she 'd been a great beauty and a sharp dresser .
2 Dear God , she was nothing but skin and bone , and she 'd been a tiny slip of a thing to start with .
3 In real life she 'd been a poor shepherdess who lived in a dungeon and had asthma .
4 Meg realized she 'd been a complete fool .
5 She 'd even felt the odd pang of nostalgia for the old days when she 'd been a young wet-behind-the-ears singer , just beginning to make her way up the ladder .
6 On the few occasions she 'd spent holidays at home she 'd been a social outcast among her contemporaries .
7 He had wooed her with hunger tempered with tenderness , lifting her to heights of fulfilment she could never have even imagined before she had met him , and she 'd been a willing , eager vessel , wreaking her woman 's power over him , submitting joyfully to his possession until in the final moment of consummation she had robbed him of his strength , leaving him as helpless as Samson shorn of his crowning glory .
8 Her mum would never had done anything so untidy or indiscreet , and she 'd been a Tory all her life .
9 It was n't IMP 's fault , or hers , that he had started at Jerez in third position , but she 'd been a convenient whipping-boy for his suspicions .
10 It had never counted for anything that she 'd been the innocent victim , that she 'd had no control over the events which had shaped her life — she 'd carried the burden with her , locked into her soul , and at least that way she 'd felt relatively safe .
11 She had been a regular person once , but that had been before the voices started up in her head , before the dead woman got out of her rocking chair , before the preacherman reached into her mind and gave it a sharp twist …
12 In any case , even if she had been a skilled charmer it was not possible to allure somebody who slashed back at you like a master swordsman and drove the point in .
13 Until she had met him , she had been a friendly , easygoing girl , with a few not-very-serious relationships behind her , and a very balanced view of life .
14 If she had been a religious person she would have put it down to retribution for her sins , but she had lost whatever faith she had had in her years as the Madam of Dublin 's most fashionable brothel .
15 She had been a battered baby , grew up in a succession of foster homes , and then married a man who regularly beat her up .
16 He held her against him , nursing her as though she had been a small child , while looking down into her face .
17 ‘ Gross exaggeration , ’ Fabia laughed , but could n't deny that she had been a great fan of the Czech composers , and still was .
18 She had been a lifelong friend of the Abrams , ’ Mr Burke said .
19 When she had been a tiny child , and Fenna had still been a small , manageable and undemanding dragon she had , often spoken of him , to her mother who had grinned , to her grandmother who had smiled , and to her schoolteachers and friends , who had laughed indulgently .
20 Her senior by fourteen years , she had been a splendid nursemaid and even after marriage , while rearing her own family , Edna had still managed to do part-time cleaning and a weekly wash in the Tremayne household .
21 Personally , I think it was a merciful release both for my aunt and for my Uncle Félix , seeing that she had been a helpless invalid for so long .
22 Just as she had been a conscientious dancer , she now became an equally conscientious needlewoman .
23 Still , she thought , bracing her shoulders , if she had been a real mother she would have had to endure many such problems with a teenage daughter .
24 She had been a major influence in my life , and helped me through the rough patches .
25 A case of gamekeeper turned poacher , given that she had been a fast-stream entrant to the Treasury , much of whose function it is to resist that sort of demand . ’
26 She had been a loyal colleague for many years , respected by parents and children alike , and since the accident had proved a trusted friend and companion .
27 She had been a slender , tallish , very young girl .
28 She had been a clerk-receptionist phone-answerer-teamaker and she had got the job through her uncle Bob who was as near to being a friend of Thomas Walby 's as it was possible to be .
29 Sad thing was she had been a noted dancer in her day .
30 She had been a good woman .
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