Example sentences of "be [prep] [subord] a " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | You can just imagine what it would be like if a child was actually wearing this at the time of ignition . |
| 2 | One may compare such a public certification of the title with the stamp on a coin , which attests the genuineness of the metal , whereas the system of private investigation of title is as if a man was obliged to employ an expert analyst to test the genuineness of the coins which might be tendered to him . |
| 3 | It is as if a wind instrument , soulless in itself , were being played through warm and breathing tissues instead of through wood or metal . |
| 4 | It is as if a strong relationship between the network structure of a given group and choice of phonetic realization of a particular vowel disqualifies that group from fulfilling the role of innovators with respect to that vowel . |
| 5 | In these experiments , the rats learn the new trick best at those times when they remember the old trick least well : it is as if a rat can learn a new trick more easily when its memory is not muddling it with the memory of the old trick . |
| 6 | The effect is as if a central strip were cut out and the remaining top and bottom rectangles rejoined . |
| 7 | Across the plains on either side of the Mississippi and Missouri , it is as if a giant city planet had exploded , leaving a random scatter of asteroid towns frozen in their wanderings but uncommitted to an urban star . |
| 8 | It was as if a great load fell from his shoulders . |
| 9 | So on this occasion when the priest set forth this ancient cry , it was as if a sleeping volcano erupted . |
| 10 | It was as if a genius creator , after six days ' labour , had become uninterested in his achievement and had delegated responsibility for the rule and administration of his work to a band of bureaucrats — a tireless bunch of imbeciles , lacking compassion , who justified their role in the scheme of things by ceaselessly inventing trials for man , to keep him on his toes . |
| 11 | It was as if a steel rope had been scraped across her palm . |
| 12 | It was as if a fist had punched her very hard in the stomach . |
| 13 | When he stormed in the door it was as if a gale of wind was behind him , and he shouted his wife 's name at the top of his voice . |
| 14 | It was as if a crumbling away of the carefully built-up layers of education , technical training , so-called civilisation , was taking place , leaving her stripped of all her carefully acquired adult assurance . |
| 15 | It was as if a great machine had been left running so long that no one had noticed , or cared , that it was running down . |
| 16 | Eye-witness Maureen Darwin , who was waiting to board one of the US-bound jumbos , said : ‘ It was as if a giant unseen hand had come down from the heavens and just lifted the planes up and across the tarmac . |
| 17 | ‘ It was as if a key turned , ’ Margaret Drabble once remarked of her easy transition from student days at Cambridge to the life of an instant bestseller in realistic fiction with her first novel , A Summer Birdcage ( 1962 ) . |
| 18 | It was as if a bit player had become a star , a menial suddenly promoted into the centre of things . |
| 19 | It was as if a diffuse religious power permeating the whole island was gathered and transferred from the mountains and hillsides to the temples and then , after the destructions of 1470 BC , to just one temple , at Knossos . |
| 20 | It was as if a blinding sun had emerged from behind a black cloud . |
| 21 | There was nothing obviously wrong — Albert sitting at one end of the table in front of his books and Hepzibah making an apple pie at the other , pressing the pastry top with a fork to make a frill round the edge — but it was as if a light had gone out . |
| 22 | It was as if a great burden had been lifted from the shoulders of the people . |
| 23 | Then it was as if a storm broke . |
| 24 | All the air shrilled , and it was as if a great wave broke over her . |
| 25 | It was as if a couple of animals hounded from one burrow , nest or lair had im-mediately taken possession of another and started up just where they had left off . |
| 26 | It was as if a harvest festival were enacted daily , for throughout the hours of market the church bell tolled quietly . |
| 27 | It was as if a voice not my own was making the call . |
| 28 | It was as if a light blow , say on her cheek , had suddenly distracted her from the braced confidence of her early mood to an unwelcome uncertainty . |
| 29 | It was as if a fall lay within her that she was n't able to make . |
| 30 | Then it was as if a grey curtain fell in front of the window . |