Example sentences of "could only [verb] [prep] " in BNC.
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| 1 | For Schopenhauer , valuable as all the arts were , music was the art which uniquely penetrated the depths of metaphysical reality and expressed the essence of that reality , the will , directly : " the composer reveals the innermost nature of the world and expresses the deepest wisdom in a language which his rational faculty does not understand " , Words , on the other hand , like the instruments of reason that they are , could only intrude from the secondary world of physical phenomena , with which true music was not concerned . |
| 2 | He said that councillors had no idea what was going on , and could only rely on the advice of the council 's officials . |
| 3 | She could only rely on that , his wearying before she did . |
| 4 | The company was bound by the representation and could only rely on the exclusion clause to exclude liability for damage to beads and sequins . |
| 5 | There were large and small holes and we could only go through a hole once . |
| 6 | Prisoners offered the choice very rarely preferred death to the colonies but , because they were essentially treated in the same way as indentured servants , they could only go to America if a merchant was willing to take them on the basis of a calculation that he could sell their services at the other end . |
| 7 | Rolling over was a painful if not too difficult manoeuvre , but , even with Travis helping all he could , it was an exhausting process trying to find his pocket and reach into it when she could only go by touch . |
| 8 | He liked to remind Owen that , out on a privileged limb though the Mamur Zapt might be , he , Garvin , had access to levels that Owen could only aspire to . |
| 9 | Warned that she could only stay for a few moments , Laura had sat down quietly in a chair beside the bed , taking her cousin 's inert , pale hand and praying , as she had never prayed before , that Liz would be able to survive her ordeal . |
| 10 | The fact that the Erne outfit could only draw with Armagh on Sunday last despite having home advantage does not lessen McCabe 's optimism as he anticipates this week-end 's replay at the Athletic Grounds . |
| 11 | Corbett could only shout at Ranulf to stay and do nothing before Selkirk took him at a canter out of the abbey . |
| 12 | But , he favoured her with what she could only perceive as a reassuring smile when , ‘ I 'm on my way to Mariánské Láznë myself , ’ he commented easily , ‘ so that 's one problem you can forget . ’ |
| 13 | Martin Cruz Smith has an intriguing hero to play with ; if he could only Strive For a Decisive Upswing in Plot Design , his mastery of the chilly thriller would be complete . |
| 14 | In the meantime they could only speculate about the revealed cosmos . |
| 15 | However , despite Lord Morton 's words quoted above , in some cases the courts have been prepared to interpret clauses restrictively even where liability could only arise in negligence . |
| 16 | He contended that pleasure could only arise from the satisfaction of an impulse and that therefore there could be no pleasure , and no possibility of satisfying a desire for pleasure , unless there were impulses towards things other than pleasure . |
| 17 | A Help the Aged spokesman confirms the charity could only move into television with Eagle Star help . |
| 18 | For some reason she could only move with nightmarish sluggishness , while everyone around her tore past with dizzying speed . |
| 19 | Our troops could only move on the roads and had to be supplied with food . |
| 20 | The Padre was very weak now , and could only move from place to place if someone helped him . |
| 21 | It will be noted that section 37(3) refers to ‘ assets located within that jurisdiction ’ , a reference which reflects , but does not directly confirm , the understanding of the position which prevailed in 1981 , that an injunction could only attach to assets within England and Wales . |
| 22 | But it was probably too late to persuade Bigwig to be gentle : he could only hope for the best . |
| 23 | The problem with Orwell is that he could only think of class conflict in terms of major insurrectionary conflict . |
| 24 | Oddly enough , he never gave a thought to the child being born with such difficulty ; he could only think of his wife . |
| 25 | Despite her ordeal the woman could only think of her boyfriend , but by the time police arrived to free him , he had wriggled free and managed to open the boot from the inside . |
| 26 | ‘ I could only think of stupid , unimportant questions . |
| 27 | He could only think of the confessional 's stock-in-trade : ‘ Did you find pleasure in it , Luke ? ’ |
| 28 | I could only think of that oh so English phrase ‘ It 's not fair ’ . |
| 29 | They could only think of another children 's home . |
| 30 | She could only think of Adam and pray he would be all right . |