Example sentences of "was [adv] a [noun sg] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | It was altogether a history of successful preservation of traditional political , social and cultural values by a conservative elite against all odds ; even Caesar 's move to punish Massalia , as the ally of Pompey , did not spell disaster . |
| 2 | ‘ We would have caught him eventually but this time it was thankfully a case of sooner rather than later . ’ |
| 3 | Historians may have drawn gender lines too sharply , but the view that apprenticeship as serious industrial training towards mastery of a craft was overwhelmingly a path for males is essentially correct . |
| 4 | 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 . |
| 5 | How would I know this Marie Savigny was secretly a member of the de Montfort coven , who wanted to come to England to plot mischief , perhaps even murder ? |
| 6 | ‘ Well , it was something like a castle , and he 'ad tons of servants and a butler as well , and a sister who was secretly a witch and tried to make the poor girl worship Satan , but — ’ |
| 7 | The contracting industry of the 1950s had not nurtured new talent or new ideas , as happened in the 1930s and 1940s , so that , apart from the Free Cinema directors , it was mostly a case of the same old people trying to make films . |
| 8 | Programmes were mostly serious ; entertainment was mostly a cartoon for children ( ‘ Sindibad and Ali Baba ’ ) which also had some following among adults ; people much enjoyed a Syrian comedy series , and owners of video-recorders would tape it , to replay it for friends and visitors . |
| 9 | With part-time farmers the lack of labour was mostly a problem for those on shift work or those who had difficulty in getting time off . |
| 10 | Well that practice did go on for a long number of years where the the riveter was the was the boss of the squad and on the Friday night , when er where it came knocking off time , he would collect the wages and he would divide that up between the squad which would be , a holder-on , a rivet boy , er maybe a putter-in , er again in my time , that was mostly a squad . |
| 11 | This was mostly a matter of scale ; Pete 's feeling was that you could n't own such a place , you could only be owned by it . |
| 12 | When Ken was in a bad mood or turned on people who regarded themselves as close friends , it was mostly a reaction to the way he saw himself — a failure to be what he wanted to be most . |
| 13 | In the meantime discontent with the Central Office — which was mostly an excuse for discontent with the leadership — continued to mount . |
| 14 | The marriage was mostly an accommodation of interests ; a convenience . |
| 15 | Horses were his speciality , and although he was rather a stout and shortish man-he sported a moustache - he was quite strong . |
| 16 | It was rather a relief . |
| 17 | Although I was sceptical as to the Brighton affair , I could not help seeing that there was rather a look about Mr Wilson sometimes ; for instance when , as occasionally happened , his wife 's leg was too bad for her to go shopping and he went alone . |
| 18 | My maternal grandmother was an undemonstrative and rather prudish woman , whereas my grandfather was rather a rake , a confirmed gambler and obviously excellent company . |
| 19 | As Stephen Wood points out in his Introduction to his edited book discussing the de-skilling thesis ( Wood 1982 , 15 ) , Braverman appears to assume ‘ that prior to Taylorism control was not in the hands of management , but was rather a kind of management by neglect ( the laissez-faire method , as Taylor called it ) , in which workers knew more than managers ’ . |
| 20 | It was rather a kind of oligarchy , with a strong hereditary element in its composition . |
| 21 | It was rather a façade behind which classes and individuals with a vested interest in weak and decentralized government could entrench themselves , and also a mere mechanical adherence to established practices and institutions . |
| 22 | The first archbishop he appointed , Adalbert ( not to be confused with the martyr of that name who preached to the Liutizi Slavs and was greatly venerated by Otto III ) , was rather a grandee , and not above gratuitously forceful interventions in the feuds of the Saxon aristocracy . |
| 23 | That it had made contact was evident , for Sister Mary let out a cry , a weird sound that was rather a yell not a scream . |
| 24 | Presently a remark of Elizabeth 's started him off on capital punishment , because it emerged that Ivy was rather a friend to hanging . |
| 25 | it would have been taken , it was rather a pity . |
| 26 | Then I was expected , that was rather a nuisance . |
| 27 | It was rather a coincidence that she was wearing a dark blue guernsey exactly like Laura 's , with a neck which necessitated the same blindfold struggle to get it off About the whole incident Richard felt no dissatisfaction and certainly no regret . |
| 28 | It was rather a squash at my nana 's house because mum , and I had to share a bedroom . |
| 29 | I knew that she would be feeling timid , and it was rather a climb in any case : comforting for her to come up a flight of steps passing a trellis of gloriously flowering wistaria . |
| 30 | Honey was sweet and gentle from the day she was born , so it was rather a surprise when she came home from the horse breaker with a completely changed personality . |