Example sentences of "could not [verb] [adj] [noun] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Even Microsoft 's own managers could not identify pirated copies of the company 's prized Windows and MS-DOS programmes that appeared in Taiwan last year . |
| 2 | Even at first assessment the difficulties faced by these dementia sufferers are apparent : two-thirds could not identify three coins , three out of five could not name three or four parts of a watch , and one half could not tell the time or correctly select a medicine bottle . |
| 3 | This last project is an embarrassingly inappropriate tribute to a man who could not identify any plants , trees or birds that he saw on his journeys except by such vapid statements as ‘ big and little birds of all sorts ’ , ‘ trees very green ’ , and ‘ many trees very different from ours . ’ |
| 4 | But of course I could not simply refuse to co-operate , could not walk out , could not leave poor Clements without doing my best for him . |
| 5 | But I could not row more grain without causing an even worse grazing crisis from April to July when three acres are laid up for hay . |
| 6 | It is true that Paul could not preach that freedom without fairly being asked how the theology works out in practice , especially where the inequalities of society , at least on the surface of things , remain unchanged . |
| 7 | ‘ A bit concerned over X 's honesty , though as yet no evidence ’ and ‘ Mother professes an interest in his welfare but we hear stories of drinking and late night parties ’ — both come from school records but could not stand parental scrutiny . |
| 8 | I stuck it out for about an hour , and then could not stand another minute . |
| 9 | I could not stand another hour of the man himself or his bleating sheep of a wife , ’ she said tartly . |
| 10 | They could not distinguish public splendour to dazzle and impress their people and foreigners alike ( if that is the effect their trappings achieved ) from the conveniences of private life . |
| 11 | C might ignore the agreement , take coercive action and promote a conflict between itself and A and B. C can not be compelled to accept the terms of the treaty between A and B ; if C acts contrary to the treaty , A and B can not make that the basis of a claim against C. Equally , if the treaty between A and B was in C's interest , C could not enforce that interest through legal proceedings unless it was in fact more than an interest , and amounted to a legally protected right . |
| 12 | So where public house premises in England were sold as " fully licensed " whereas the licence was a six-day licence , the court held that the vendor could not enforce specific performance : Fraser v. Pugsley ( 1920 ) 37 T.L.R. 87 . |
| 13 | He was less severe with me than he would have been normally , but I saw I could not expect great leniency from him . |
| 14 | The idea that the colonies might be told to go their own way was not considered ; an administrative system was set up to make sure that the King 's orders were obeyed on the far side of the Atlantic as much as in the more distant parts of the British Isles — it was realized that he could not expect complete obedience , and in some respects the system was losing its impetus even by the beginning of the eighteenth century , but the shift from the Greek pattern of virtual independence to the Roman pattern of general obedience in the colonies had been made and there was no reason to think it would be reversed . |
| 15 | Complaints about government appointments or policies could only be met by Law with the barren reply that the party could not expect total control and that in coalition such things must happen — which is just what the critics were saying too . |
| 16 | Speaking to a motion carried by the conference calling for a housing policy review and for ‘ massive public investment ’ in quality homes for rent , he said he was glad Labour was now addressing the problem , for you could not build decent homes without creating a safe environment to live in . |
| 17 | Only the other day on ’ Panorama ’ Conservative councillors in Worcester said that they could not build new council houses without losing money . |
| 18 | Eventually he told them he could not serve two masters and as he had , by then , proved himself to Tiller , he was given complete financial control . |
| 19 | I expect we were about three miles out to sea by now , though I could not smell any salt , hear any gulls or see any boats . |
| 20 | A new law , expected to be in force by 1993 , would allow companies to restrict individual shareholdings to a given percentage , but would bar non-registration of shareholdings unless the company otherwise could not continue normal operations . |
| 21 | They could not secure enough cash quickly and despite several last ditch attempts , went into receivership . |
| 22 | In practice , children under the age of eight are rarely called as witnesses and judges still follow a 1958 House of Lords ruling that a jury could not attach any importance to the evidence of a child of five . |
| 23 | At the outset parties were reminded that they could not hold political meetings in places of worship and had to obtain police permission to hold any meetings at all . |
| 24 | He said he could not offer any explanation as to exactly what Mr McNeill meant by his remarks as that could prejudge his statements on Thursday . |
| 25 | Robert could not stop these thoughts . |
| 26 | After a review of the state of research , the government decided , in 1988 , that it could not justify continued expenditure of £100 million a year on a project with such an elusive prospect of commercial return . |
| 27 | She could not sleep that night . |
| 28 | He could not sleep that night . |
| 29 | She could not bear dead bodies of any breed . |
| 30 | I could not bear any imputation of disloyalty to my second husband . |