Example sentences of "him [was/were] a [noun sg] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | The inn was his vessel , the valley was the ocean , out there before him were a horde of small boats and pirates , flare ships and decoys , occasionally an enemy frigate or two hoving over the crest of a hill , sometimes a rich galleon sighted nearby which had to be pursued and boarded . |
| 2 | On the desk in front of him were a pile of grey videotape boxes . |
| 3 | Behind him were a crowd of men and horses ; Hearthwares in full armour , their breaths steaming in the coolness of the morning , Myrcans standing impassively , indifferent to the cold but nodding to Isay as he approached , and a pair of pack mules trying to bite each other 's manes . |
| 4 | To his rear and flanking him were a group of grey tracksuited figures , armed with lethal looking machine pistols . |
| 5 | Near him was a door which presumably led to a room beyond . |
| 6 | Before him was a bowl of clear liquid , in which lay a complicated puzzle of interlocking rings . |
| 7 | With him was a friend dressed exactly the same . |
| 8 | He was lying stiffly on one side and curled close to him was a girl . |
| 9 | Close to him was a girl who rocked a sleeping baby and , when she caught his glance , she smiled sadly and held the baby tighter to save it from the snow flurries . |
| 10 | And in the Manse behind him was a girl , a child whom he had taken last night in a fit of lust and self-pity . |
| 11 | The relevant considerations are ( 1 ) that to talk of an interpretation may be to talk of something one consciously does , an action ( in the Brown Book the corresponding question was whether ‘ B derived that the object shown to him was a pencil ’ [ my italics ] ) ; and ( 2 ) that the possibility of an alternative interpretation ( using the word now not to refer to an action ) may not have occurred to the person concerned . |
| 12 | Facing him was a man — white , shaking and terrified . |
| 13 | In the crowd that surrounded him was a man called Jairus , who was the president of one of the local synagogues . |
| 14 | Harry decided that the embarrassment this caused him was a sign he was getting better . |
| 15 | Just to get to meet him and work with him was a thrill , but I got to kiss him , too ! |
| 16 | ‘ Actually , ’ he said , commencing slowly what every contrary sense told him was a venture into dangerous territory , the piece of history I had in mind was a defenestration . |
| 17 | I had recently stayed with him in Scotland : knowing him was a help , for I felt out of my milieu . |
| 18 | ‘ He knew and I knew , the obvious thing for him was a yorker . |
| 19 | If you could catch what he said , it was often extremely funny , but hearing him was a problem . |
| 20 | Behind him was a kind of triptych with ferny foliage , to the left and right , enclosing a watery space in which rosy and silver fish shone between pond-weeds . |
| 21 | On realizing that there was someone at the door , he quickened his pace , so that our view of him was a fugitive one . |
| 22 | All he had on him was a couple of quid in small change . ’ |
| 23 | The closest detectives got to him was a choice of 3 photofits . |
| 24 | The closest detectives got to him was a choice of 3 photofits . |
| 25 | Local people later told Derek that the man who had first approached him was a policeman . |
| 26 | ‘ He did not know a great deal about navigation , although he had enough fuel to get to France , but all he had with him was a holdall with a spare pair of shoes , a sandwich and a sports diary with a map of the world in it . ’ |
| 27 | God to him was a figure of terror , of impossible standards . |
| 28 | In front of him was a mound of concrete blocks , dust , jagged glass and twisted metal . |
| 29 | On a cloth before him was a mound of soft tomatoes , and another of spoiling melons . |
| 30 | One of them , Peter Cornwell , later published a sunlit retrospect of what it was like to be one of Ebor 's ordinands , and how he valued the privilege that the bishop who ordained him was a thinker , as he put it , so profound . |