Example sentences of "he were [v-ing] a " in BNC.

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1 He had a curious , heavy growth of fur on the crown of his head , which gave him an odd appearance , as though he were wearing a kind of cap .
2 When he spoke it was as if he were dictating a letter to her , concentrating on the correctness of his grammar and syntax .
3 She wanted him to feel as if he were kissing a lifeless rag doll .
4 He ran his eyes down the column of figures as if he were taking a good look at Voluptua Whoopee in a no-piece swimsuit and whistled ‘ Dixie . ’
5 At Oxford he had gained a First in Greats , for which , according to a contemporary , he had worked as if he were taking a chartered accountancy exam .
6 He now sounded as though he were beginning a lecture and I thought he must have learned that intonation from his tutors .
7 No other book so well demonstrates the influence of the cinema on Minton 's art : he conceived each design as if he were composing a frame , making frequent use of close-up and distortion .
8 His movements were slow , his gaze abstracted , as if he were composing a poem in his head .
9 The boy crooked one arm and stuck out the other as if he were holding a gun .
10 In the course of filling his lungs he felt as if he were rising a few inches off the ground .
11 He had the disconcerting habit of using my name as if he were addressing a butler or a chauffeur .
12 Naturally Terry had hard-line views on all this , and as we changed for the show on that charged night he proclaimed them to the entire cast , as if he were addressing a meeting .
13 Pascoe felt as though he were seeing a moment from his future but could n't guess what he would feel when the moment arrived .
14 He spoke with a total lack of melodrama , as though he were reciting a shopping list .
15 He worked as if he were roping a piece of luggage , barely looking at Tessa , not touching her unless he had to .
16 These were his friends but he felt unnatural in their company , as if he were acting a part .
17 He leant towards the young man now and , his voice dropping as if he were imparting a secret , he said , ‘ Do you know that they are one of the best brands sold by Harrods of London ? ’
18 ‘ Sit down , Mr O'Malley , ’ he said in a slow ponderous voice , as though he were inviting a weary traveller to take his ease .
19 The sun , the clear sky , the bright colours , the prosperous look of this lively , airy university town and wine-growing capital ; the stalls massed with flowers ; fresh fish shining pink and gold and silver in shallow baskets ; cherries and apricots and peaches on the fruit barrows ; one stall piled with about a ton of little bunches of soup or pot-au-feu vegetables — a couple of slim leeks , a carrot or two , a long thin turnip , celery leaves , and parsley , all cleaned and neatly bound with a rush , ready for the pot ; another charcuterie stall , in the covered part of the market , displaying yards of fresh sausage festooned around a pyramid-shaped wire stand ; a fishwife crying pussy 's parcels of fish wrapped tidily in newspaper ; an old woman at the market entrance selling winkles from a little cart shaped like a pram ; a fastidiously dressed old gentleman choosing tomatoes and leaf artichokes , one by one , as if he were picking a bouquet of flowers , and taking them to the scales to be weighed ( how extraordinary that we in England put up so docilely with not being permitted by greengrocers or even barrow boys to touch or smell the produce we are buying ) ; a lorry with an old upright piano in the back threading round and round the market place trying to get out .
20 The surgeon had sounded a note of amused condescension as though he were betraying a colleague 's unfortunate weakness , wryly observed , which a more prudent man would have detected before beginning his medical training , or at least would have come to terms with before his second year .
21 While the others were talking of Hubert Molland , Peter had felt like a spectator at a play — as if he were watching a scene that had been rehearsed so many times that the actors spoke their lines mechanically , hardly caring about the meaning .
22 But at this moment it was as though he were watching a play …
23 Mary could see her father 's hand spread out before him as if he were sweeping a cloak : her father was now the man of property .
24 The dun cock went down as the blue followed through , landing full-flush and kneading the gaffs on the dun 's heart as if he were working a treadle .
25 He wondered if he were making a mistake .
26 He had never physically hurt her , although there had been more than one occasion towards the end of their short , fraught marriage when he had looked as if he were making a huge effort to stop himself raising a hand to her .
27 One man in the back row is waving his paddle as if he were directing a jumbo jet , while a lady in the front demurely flicks her pencil .
28 It 's as if he were giving a performance of some character he 's dreamed up , and his pale eyes wander in search of effect even in his apparently wildest moments . ‘
29 Almost as if he were describing a Stieglitz photograph of her , he characterised O'Keeffe as ‘ gaping with deep open eyes and fixed mouth at the rather trivial world of living people ’ and called her art ‘ unqualified nakedness of statement . ’
30 Somehow , it was as if he were playing a part .
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