Example sentences of "could [adv] be [vb pp] a " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Enoch Powell , who needed nobody to tell him that he could n't win ( he knew that perfectly well ) , was not the object of anything that could properly be called a campaign : he was a loner with just a few devoted friends behind him . |
| 2 | ‘ … considered that a casual with a skilled trade may have his efficiency seriously impaired by being required to break stones and may , in order to avoid this task , feel compelled to sleep out or to commit some other offence against the law ; that it is impossible to expect the officer in charge of a casual ward to discriminate between men for whom the task would or would not be suitable , and that this would lay him open to accusations of favouritism or vindictiveness ; that the task could rarely be made a profitable one , and is repugnant to the class of workers most liable to unemployment , being looked upon by them as having penal associations and as entirely deterrent . ’ ) |
| 3 | In the North , the bishops pursued the Irish catholic community 's interests in what could only be called a spirit of ‘ pillarization ’ . |
| 4 | MYSELF and Marco Polo is a working model of a novel , a clever toy , a verbal tournament , a facetious blueprint for a possible future seriousness : it could only be called a success if its author 's aim was merely to intrigue , and I do not feel that Paul Griffiths can be that crude . |
| 5 | It could only be given a new lease of life by grounding its themes in a transformed image of a much more efficient , modernised , client-centred public sector , to which Labour has not yet seriously directed itself . |
| 6 | Obviously something like a car could only be considered a bribe ; on the other hand a vacuum cleaner , say , may be too expensive to give away in bulk but could certainly be offered for comparative testing . |
| 7 | I was going through what could only be described a ‘ drop-out ’ period . |
| 8 | Indeed , the primitive matchlocks could only be discharged a maximum of sixteen times during a whole day of battle . |
| 9 | This is a choice ( whether conscious or unconscious is a different matter ) , but could scarcely be called a style . |
| 10 | The skull of a Celtic princess which was dug up more than a hundred years ago could soon be given a face . |
| 11 | She could not bind herself personally , with the result that she could not be made a bankrupt , unless she was carrying on a trade . |
| 12 | This would of itself set off ecumenical vibrations such that , although it could not be called a ‘ Council of reunion ’ like Florence , it could be a Council leading towards what he called ‘ the recomposition of the whole mystical flock of Christ ’ . |
| 13 | There could not be devised a sophisticated society in which there was no competition for ‘ jobs at the top ’ . |
| 14 | Her second visit could not be accounted a complete success , though we were much more intimate than before , and wept a lot together about the baby . |
| 15 | The Severn could not be considered a complete failure , however , for from it was developed the very successful Saro A.27 London flying-boat . |
| 16 | 1987 ) the court held that the police had wrongly considered the theft of 28 dogs owned by a Hunt as a serious arrestable offence as the loss to the members of the Hunt could not be considered a serious financial loss . |
| 17 | Of the high-ranking journals , Nature is a general scientific journal , and could not be considered a ‘ core ’ geological journal . |
| 18 | Of the high-ranking journals , Nature is a general scientific journal , and could not be considered a ‘ core ’ geological journal . |
| 19 | Meanwhile the British began to drop hints to American diplomats to the effect that , while they wished to remain a Middle Eastern power , this could not be considered a certainty without some assurance of American support . |
| 20 | He could not be considered a priority case , but officer Ms Jayne Gardener managed to find the bed and breakfast place in Middlesbrough . |
| 21 | In 1922 the capital of the guberniia could hardly be called a bastion of the proletariat . |
| 22 | There had already been a kerfuffle over the pornographic ones ; they could n't be included in the facsimile edition and yet at the same time it could hardly be called a complete edition if they were n't there . |
| 23 | The integration of its railway system — it could hardly be called a network — was a major problem . |
| 24 | The elongated , slightly oval hummock could hardly be called a grave , more a burial mound . |
| 25 | The garden could hardly be called a garden ; it was large , wild and not too well kept . |
| 26 | There was bougainvillaea in flower , clambering up the stone walls , small white roses on thin stalks among the weeds , and wild flowers in what could hardly be called a garden . |
| 27 | Now to an event that could hardly be called a sport , even though it did produce a new British champion . |
| 28 | LADY in black Jackie Miller could hardly be called a mo-pedestrian either . |
| 29 | ‘ That could hardly be called a conciliatory speech , ’ said Isambard delicately . |
| 30 | We had taken 120 carp and 2 cats so the trip could hardly be deemed a ’ cat-astrophe ’ ( sorry but I could n't resist it ) when suddenly one of Rick 's rods was away . |