Example sentences of "it [was/were] [adv] a " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Where religion is reduced to either , and treated as if it were simply a form of knowing or a form of doing , it is lost to sight altogether . |
| 2 | Of course , if it were simply a matter of agreeing on an arbitrary definition , there would be little problem . |
| 3 | But if it were simply a matter of providing skills to make their students more employable , that would be a much more dubious enterprise . |
| 4 | There was already a rather perfunctory air to the Queen 's visit three years ago , as if it were just a required coda to her tour of China . |
| 5 | Evidence was reinterpreted that might seem to count against them : for example , the Earth 's long geological history , which seemed impossible if it were just a cooling sphere ; or the Sun 's apparently endless emission of energy , which was hard to explain in terms of its being made of coal , or fuelled by meteors , or contracting and giving out gravitational energy as heat and light . |
| 6 | ‘ If only it were just a story . ’ |
| 7 | His hands are gently folded over it as if it were just a bag of laundry on his lap . |
| 8 | Er the reason we wan na get it right is because er this Superintendent , erm he 's obviously got his interests very much on it , and he 's he 's keen to know what our response is going to be , and if it were just a member of the public I think we could we could being crude I think we could fob 'em off , but I think it 's gon na have to be a very structured answer as to why we 're not gon na do it . |
| 9 | It were just a labouring job . |
| 10 | So mm it were just a case of a flying visit cos we 've not seen you for nearly twelve months . |
| 11 | You have run after me to find out this thing as if it were just an answer to a riddle , or a joke which you remembered half of . |
| 12 | And , even if it were just an American issue , how can one claim to represent American art properly in the period when women 's work often led the way without including some of the artists I 've mentioned . |
| 13 | If it were less an absurdity , the House of Commons would have to take it seriously . |
| 14 | If it were merely a handful of Irish psychopaths against us , they might be foiled by a piece of pasteboard with a photograph and some numbers stamped on it . |
| 15 | If it were merely a matter of eloquence , or energy or conviction , the education system , like other male institutions , would have been transformed by women already . |
| 16 | If it were only a matter of alcohol , would a body care ? |
| 17 | Even if it were only a dozen , they could with megaton bombs inflict widespread devastation . |
| 18 | Here the expression may , as so often , be read to blur the fact of a change of substance , to present a difference of kind as though it were only a modest difference of degree . |
| 19 | Even if it were only a few hundred pounds , five hundred , six , I would n't be standing here sick with worry … |
| 20 | One of the reason you get took on , I mean , it were only a borstal when he went were n't it ? |
| 21 | The head saw a possible solution in a more flexible points allocation for ancillary assistance than that which was LEA policy , but recognised that it was principally a matter of lack of finance . |
| 22 | The response — on the day it was revealed she was the voice on the tape — was as staggering as it was overwhelmingly a vote for the Princess . |
| 23 | It was either a passage or a long , thin room , a stone-walled storage space lined with gunpowder plot-style wooden barrels . |
| 24 | At best it was either a publicity stunt designed help sell third-rate books or a neat piece of disinformation put out by the Russians in order to sow confusion amongst the West 's intelligence agencies . |
| 25 | We are not quite sure who sold the business to XY Ltd as a going concern — presumably it was either a receiver of AB Ltd or AB 's directors prior to liquidation . |
| 26 | ‘ I 've been driving a great deal in the States but it was either a Packard or a Studebaker . ’ |
| 27 | More often than not though , when he did make an absolute cock up , it was either a big occasion ( fa cup final ) , or the cameras were there ( throws ball in own net at Anfield ) . |
| 28 | It was either a penalty , or a goal kick ( if the ref thought that the forward had intentionally got tangled up ) . |
| 29 | ‘ Richards got the tackle on Bunce and it was either a penalty for us , or a scrum with a turnover to the Lions . |
| 30 | Well we thought it was either a rent man or somebody collecting for the council . |