Example sentences of "were not [prep] the " in BNC.

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No Sentence
1 There was no apparent reason to administer the drug , although the quantities involved were not above the legal limits .
2 The new men of the Kremlin were not above the simplicity of taking a former idea and adapting it to their needs .
3 Those of them which were not about the Englishman 's standard of living ( no peasant wooden shoes and no Irish potatoes ) were shared by many of the " middling people " ; these were the issues and they were more important than any lingering popular Jacobitism , although that sentiment certainly existed .
4 For one of so gentle a character he could be extraordinarily defiant of gamekeepers , and threatening letters to my father passed on to him with added threats were not of the slightest avail .
5 ‘ I have to admit , ’ he began , speaking quite slowly , ‘ that my early years at secondary school were not of the happiest .
6 These Dutch cattle were not of the Friesian type but an old type which was devastated by cattle plague in the Netherlands in 1745 .
7 These were not of the best quality ; lighting in the first instance was oil , then gas , but on the introduction of electrically lit stock , the batteries were always run down or low in the winter , and described by one wag , a regular user of the service , as reminiscent of ‘ a red hot hairpit ’ .
8 A pity , in a way , that the dancing would be merely metaphorical : this was a house large enough to accommodate dancing , but their friends were not of the dancing classes , would gaze in astonishment , alarm , sophisticated horror , intellectual condemnation , at dancing in a private house … another year , perhaps , for the dancing .
9 ‘ I 've been wondering about David , ’ said Julia casually , as though the question were not of the utmost Importance to her .
10 There must be equality of rights for all citizens regardless of nationality ; and there could be no excuse for discrimination against any of them , nor for ‘ extremist gatherings ’ which had terrorised local people who were not of the majority affiliation .
11 It is not quite clear what he meant by this ; the point may well be not that the new kings — Eardwulf in Northumbria , and Coenwulf in Mercia — were of non-royal stock but that they were not of the lineage , respectively , of Aethelred and Offa — but it could easily be construed as a slur .
12 Quite suddenly whether Anne worried or what she thought were not of the least importance .
13 He would have been happier with a committee , but the owners , of whom several rented rather than owned their boats , were not of the substance from which committees are formed .
14 A similar distinction lies at the base of J. R. Walsh 's treatment of the muftis : doubtless writing about a period later than that under consideration in the present study , he states , in regard to what Hezarfen would call the that aside from the occasional retired kadi or " a member of one of the local learned families in the larger cities , … the were not of the class " .
15 The malai junior commanders in the field were not of the smartest .
16 But I think it 's fair to say that the changes in the n nine , early nineteen eighties particularly those which gave the unions a predominant position in choosing the leader , were not of the unions ' making , certainly not of the G M B's making , as I know from personal experience at the time .
17 ‘ It was apparent from the start that , if you were a journalist , you were not of the hard-nosed variety . ’
18 The clumsiness is evident in the standard of ‘ the reasonable man ’ , an anthropomorphic ( and male ) standard which might be taken to suggest a paragon of virtue if it were not for the context of partially exculpating a killing by such a person .
19 If it were not for the fact that he was one of the favourites you 'd have been delighted but as a Gold Cup winner I had to feel a bit disappointed .
20 If it were not for the debilitating character question , Clinton would surely have a fair chance of beating Bush .
21 This would be a useful feature if it were not for the fact that a certain amount of vaginal discharge is perfectly normal and natural for a woman in her reproductive years ; and what is more , this natural discharge is subject to a fair amount of variation depending on the stage of the menstrual cycle .
22 This would not matter very much ( for it would always be possible for individual candidates to prove the expectation wrong ) , if it were not for the fact that whole papers in the final examination , or certain questions on papers , are to be ‘ differentiated ’ .
23 The foregoing would , of course , mean that property rights were not for the dispensation of some imagined ‘ god ’ of early superstitious religion , but existed by virtue of the fact that human beings have , in the course of time , generally agreed that such a right was ‘ good ’ , for the reason that without it there could be no peaceful existence and no contentment .
24 The tears which coursed down his cheeks were not for the head groom .
25 If it were not for the hollow bones the 30-ton creature would have required inordinate amounts of energy , and thus more food , to move around .
26 Yet if it were not for the eclipses of May , June and November , Pisceans might think they could get off comparatively lightly .
27 ‘ We will open on Friday , Saturday and Sunday throughout the summit with a big display showing the prices that would be charged if it were not for the Common Agricultural Policy , ’ says a spokesman .
28 Ironically , the Great War would not have been the war that it was if it were not for the machine .
29 Any cheers that met his statement — which was not heard in silence — were not for the General-Secretary but for his concessions .
30 ‘ requiring a seat belt ’ Means per regulation 6 of the Motor Vehicles ( wearing of Seat Belts ) Regulation 1982 : ‘ The classes of vehicle mentioned in regulation 4 are ( a ) a vehicle to which Regulation 46 of the Construction and Use Regulations applies ( see later ) ; and ( b ) a vehicle which is equipped with anchorage points and seat belts and to which that Regulation would apply if it were not for the circumstances that the vehicle —
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