Example sentences of "could [adv] have been [det] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | To accept that whatever she had done or promised or performed to maintain her position in Market Square then her choice could only have been that or the workhouse . |
| 2 | ‘ There could not have been much of a selection this time , then . |
| 3 | ( 3 ) Subject to the following subsections , a person ( here referred to as ‘ the defendant ’ ) is answerable to the child if he was liable in tort to the parent or would , if sued in due time , have been so ; and it is no answer that there could not have been such liability because the parent suffered no actionable injury , if there was a breach of legal duty which , accompanied by injury , would have given rise to the liability . … |
| 4 | Without your hard work , the development of the new courses could not have been such a success . |
| 5 | The previous evening , I could not have completed the last fifty yards without his help , but now if he had climbed on my back he could not have been more of a hindrance . |
| 6 | She was er I mean was a pop s ex pop singer , I 'd only just stopped singing a few weeks before I started to work with Sybil and she could not have been more gracious and generous in helping me get through it . |
| 7 | Sir Frank also acknowledges that British ships had not been adequately defended against Exocet , and that there could not have been any control over its sale to third parties as British firms supplied only components . |
| 8 | They could not have been less trouble , leaving the house at ten in the morning and not returning until nine in the evening , having already dined . |
| 9 | She could hardly have been much of a friend of Liza because , although her daughter had never been forthcoming about her time in the ATS , she had certainly never mentioned an Eleanor Fuller . |
| 10 | It was fairly clear that there was going to be some smuggling as well but , even allowing for the often-repeated story that other ships lay over the horizon and sent boats in to add to the stock on board the single ship , the net profits from the ship could hardly have been much more than twice those of the slave-trading . |
| 11 | The irrational thought almost occurs that Shakespeare could n't have been that smart if he did n't realise that he had here a performer who can turn sows ' ears into silk purses , and silk purses into live butterflies . |
| 12 | The dog had n't barked so it could n't have been that , because he did n't miss any strange sound . |
| 13 | He could n't have been that old , could he ? ’ |
| 14 | Sean , you could n't have been that shit-faced that you could n't go upto the Roger and ask him whether he was Roger or not ? |
| 15 | And , remembering the way the wretched man had kept his finger on the bell , ‘ He could n't have been that lucky — to pick on the one flat you were in out of all the others — purely by chance . ’ |
| 16 | It could n't have been that . |
| 17 | What a shame it could n't have been more of a humdinger . |
| 18 | ‘ Sorry I could n't have been more help . ’ |
| 19 | In this regard I could n't have been more fortunate . |
| 20 | The match could n't have been more of a thriller if it had been written in Hollywood . |
| 21 | I was propositioned by this absolutely stunning girl who could n't have been any more than seventeen . |
| 22 | THERE could n't have been any doubt of ’ innovative thinking after managing director presented this packet of breakfast cereal at the Financial Times Food & Drink Conference in March . |
| 23 | It seems that even if you have loved and been loved , there could well have been some loss to bear in the recent past . |
| 24 | His harrying of Essex in 994 could well have been this second occasion , and if so the first may have been the Maldon campaign in 991 . |
| 25 | With mum Carol 's heritage it could never have been any other way — her roots , after all , lay thousands of miles away in Wales , the Land of Song . |