Example sentences of "had [been] [v-ing] on " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | The blue-tit that had been swinging on a bramble , singing " Heigh , ho , go-and-get-another-bit-of-moss , " stopped his acrobatics and flew into the wood . |
| 2 | Cormack had been swinging on the bar stool , fingering his wallet because Amanda 's appetite for food and drink had made his credit cards nervous , when he 'd seen the man in the raincoat in reception and the beer had spilled over his hand and left wet stains on the varnish for the boy to polish away . |
| 3 | The witness said Gary had been swinging on the metal posts on May 11 when they collapsed on his chest . |
| 4 | While he had been talking like an estate agent , getting his full value out of the situation , the full embarrassment of it had been dawning on Jenna . |
| 5 | I had been counting on his saying no to at least one of those , so that I could issue a hollow guffaw and depart , shaking my head ruefully ; but he did not , and I had no choice but to slink away or sign in . |
| 6 | But however reasonable , nothing was as cheap as free accommodation , and she had been counting on these next six months to build up a bank balance . |
| 7 | Claus Toksvig , then a Danish broadcaster based in London , had been reporting on unemployment in Britain . |
| 8 | At this Maria Candida , who had been listening on the stairs , let out a wail of joy at the thought that she would be seeing Portugal again ; Leonora went to embrace her daughter and whisper her blessings , while Gerald , who knew when he was beaten and was never any good in emotional situations , announced that he had important business in the castle yard , and would return as soon as he had attended to it . |
| 9 | The 31-year-old victim 's wife , who had been drifting on an anchor line 10ft below their charter boat , was uninjured . |
| 10 | In the apartment Sam Somerville had been dozing on the couch , once so favoured by Quinn , because it was right next to the flash phone . |
| 11 | He asked what Angela Morgan had been drawing on every month and found his belief confirmed . |
| 12 | Two days later , the most beautiful bloom burst forth which appeared to mimic a flow 3D diagram Margaret had been producing on her computer ! |
| 13 | I had caught an eider duck that had been sheltering on a lochan and was flying back with it against the wind when I grew tired . |
| 14 | Mandy 's parents had been understandably concerned at her friendship with Mark , but their demands on her had been bordering on the unreasonable . |
| 15 | And the one that had been writhing on the ground recovered itself , lunging towards her from the other side . |
| 16 | It was the suit Sir Henry had been wearing on the morning when we first met him in Baker Street . |
| 17 | Rafiq , for example , who had not changed out of the grubby overalls that he had been wearing on the day of Robert 's interview , seemed to spend most of his time painting the walls of his classroom . |
| 18 | He was wearing the crumpled suit he had been wearing on the day Robert first saw him in the pub . |
| 19 | James Curran , the left-wing media intellectual who had been advising on market research , leaked his involvement to Tribune , the established semi-official paper of the traditional Labour left . |
| 20 | Quinn had been doodling on a pad . |
| 21 | A few years ago , I heard of a consultant surgeon who had been drinking on duty for 20 years . |
| 22 | The first arrivals were coming out of Customs now : two middle-aged couples , a crowd of kids who looked like students , a family with four children and grandma , a man who looked as if he had been drinking on the plane , his collar undone and his tie hanging . |
| 23 | The SNM stated that the relief workers had been riding on a government military lorry ; such lorries were subject to routine attack and they appealed to relief agencies to be " independent " in performing their duties . |
| 24 | The Walther Devlin had been holding on his knee appeared above the table now and he fired again , shooting Eggar through the right hand . |
| 25 | Constance had lost Ludo — something she had been dreading on the journey up from Florence — but she was not alarmed . |
| 26 | Some boys had been jumping on the backs of trams , when the conductor 's attention was distracted , giving the emergency bell signal , stealing cash boxes and jumping off . |
| 27 | The last few days he had been getting on her nerves . |
| 28 | With Dara once more clinging firmly and rather painfully to her arm she was walked back to the small , intimate table they had been sharing on the edge of the small dance-floor , but Ace was quickly on to his feet , side-stepping Dara 's attempt to greet him with a kiss . |
| 29 | Shaking off the nostalgia that threatened to overwhelm her , she went to the window and threw it open , startling a tiny robin that had been resting on the sill . |
| 30 | The cursor will be returned to its original size and moved to a point just outside where the highlight had been depending on the key tapped . |