Example sentences of "could not [verb] a [noun sg] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Illusion could not fix a position from a sextant reading , nor fight two hundred square feet of heavy flogging wet canvas in a tumbling sea and a rough wind . |
| 2 | Rubberneck knew them all , pious lives ; he had been lectured them a hundred times , even if he still could not fix a face to a saint , or only ( he felt an affinity ) St Francis . |
| 3 | A southern Italian , he had taught up until now in a village near Naples and could not speak a word either of Slovene or of Triestino . |
| 4 | Held , allowing the appeal , that once an order was made under section 31 of the Children Act 1989 placing a child in the care of a local authority , responsibility for the care of the child was firmly with the local authority and the family proceedings court could not retain a power of review over the care order by including directions ; and that , accordingly , the direction relating to the continued involvement of the guardian ad litem would be deleted ( post , p. 812B , G ) . |
| 5 | She could not move a step . |
| 6 | A virtual mummy , a living corpse that could not twitch a fingertip — though did any fingers or even fingerbones remain within that mass of medical machinery ? |
| 7 | And it all began in 1890 when a successful businessman , who could not dance a step , presented four ordinary little girls from Manchester in a pantomime at the Prince of Wales Theatre , Liverpool . |
| 8 | They are the reason I could not contemplate a life lacking a daily sight of hills . |
| 9 | At times like that I could not care a toss for JTR and wondered why the hell I was in such a situation . |
| 10 | Geoffrey Chaucer could not hold a conversation with a modern Englishman , even though they are linked to each other by an unbroken chain of some twenty generations of Englishmen , each of whom could speak to his immediate neighbours in the chain as a son speaks to his father . |
| 11 | Unfortunately he could not offer a time for his visit . |
| 12 | Mr Emig said there were gaps in the evidence and that , in the commission 's view , the South African track and field federation could not conduct a doping control as their membership of the International Amateur Athletic Federation was still under suspension . |
| 13 | That , and the discovery that she could not bear a man near her in the early days after the rape ; so she had feigned an illness , explained as the consequence of her breaking her engagement with Havvie , which , of course , had caused an immense furore inside and outside of society , and Mama and Papa had put off their visit to England , and sent her loving letters , for she had written that she had discovered that she did not really love Havvie at all , had merely been beglamoured by his appearance , name and title . |
| 14 | They covered their complacent idleness and ignorance with theological catchphrases which could not excuse a lack of grasp . |
| 15 | In doing so it probably aroused some sympathy among the Party membership , though it could not prevent a movement which was receiving support from national figures . |
| 16 | During the first days of that Holy Week Mrs Abigail continued to believe that she could not endure a marriage that was a travesty , and that she could no longer endure life in Dynmouth . |
| 17 | If BR could not make a case for seven trains for one of its most profitable routes , it was clear that plans for a second tranche of HSTs for the Cross Country group of services would not satisfy the new criteria . |
| 18 | The Court acknowledged that the Registry could not make a decision binding upon it in its judicial capacity . |
| 19 | Even HARPY , which brought its full syntactic and semantic knowledge to bear immediately , could not make a decision on a word-by-word basis . |
| 20 | She thought it dry , and it was , but she could not make a dent in the downpour itself . |
| 21 | Eventually she found them but could n't get near — the crowds were as dense further up and , push as she might , she could not make a parting for herself . |
| 22 | The Powderhall stadium in Edinburgh was the top venue for professional athletics , though competitors could not make a living by running alone . |
| 23 | A CHIMPANZEE financial whizzkid that has beaten stock market experts could not make a monkey of British share analysts yesterday . |
| 24 | Does Article 37 mean that they could not make a claim to terminate the right on this ground ? |
| 25 | Taplow 's lips continued to move though his throat was so scorched he could not make a sound . |
| 26 | I once left a message on a colleague 's answering machine saying that someone else could not make a meeting because she had resigned . |
| 27 | There were so many people in the room that you could not pass a needle between them , so how it was that the Gypsy Kings , carrying large musical instruments and followed by a television crew , came to arrive at the dinner table unmaimed , must remain a mystery for ever . |
| 28 | Rain could not cite a case where Ruby Dobby had brought a speedy conclusion to a murder case . |
| 29 | Zambia could not eat a thing . |
| 30 | You bet him sixpence he could not eat a maggot and he promptly swallowed a live one and grabbed your tanner . |