Example sentences of "a few minutes [prep] a " in BNC.

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1 Ten a.m. , 24th July ; just finished breakfast with the mortar team and relaxing for a few minutes over a mug of hot tea discussing the number of casualties after the heavy shelling last night .
2 If travelling in a car , you might stop for a few minutes as a penalty , refusing to speak to the child until he behaves .
3 I made him understand that he was to stay where he was and I would return in a few minutes with a tin of tobacco .
4 He returned in a few minutes with a very wet and chastened Liam and the cortege was complete .
5 I showered and then decided to lie in a hot bath for a few minutes with a cup of tea at my elbow and the latest Kingsley Amis in front of my face .
6 ‘ Surely it did n't hurt you to spare a few minutes for an old man ? ’
7 This is because they can include additional short irradiations for elements with isotopes of very short half-lives , from a few minutes to a few hours , although this increases the analyst 's work .
8 A wall goes down from the road straight as a die to Ease Gill and a walk alongside leads in a few minutes to a small hole in the ground that opens into lengthy passages below : this is Short Drop Cave .
9 Stop anywhere for a few minutes on a summer 's day and you are likely to end up as an unpaid extra in next year 's calendar or on a biscuit tin .
10 Although Frankie had been dozing , he was too hungry to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time .
11 Now , for just a few minutes at a time , focus on this image — and stir in desire .
12 TOWARDS the end of her life my mother was in hospital , a victim of Alzheimer 's Disease , a severe diabetic , unable to walk and increasingly unable to remain conscious for more than a few minutes at a time .
13 These played for only a few minutes at a time .
14 But within a few days , all her mother 's youth and vigour were gone and the energetic , independent woman whose health and dependability she had taken for granted for so long had turned into a helpless invalid , unable to hold down the thinnest gruel , unable to sleep more than a few minutes at a time , unable even to answer the calls of nature on her own , so that she had to be lifted like a child onto the pot and lifted back into the jumble of stinking bedclothes .
15 A breathless , pervasive sense of heat possessed her body at every return of the memory and she was unable to remain settled and at ease in her seat for more than a few minutes at a time .
16 He 'll cry long and hard , and though you can soothe him for a few minutes at a time , hours can pass without you ever really silencing the cries .
17 Sometimes it is helpful to give an ice cold drink a few minutes before a meal to relive the difficulty of chewing or swallowing .
18 Sprinkle the yeast over the water in a cup and leave to stand for a few minutes in a warm place before stirring to completely dissolve the yeast .
19 After an hour inside the school , all four spent a few minutes in a room of their own before Charles and Diana said goodbye to their sons .
20 The blow would have killed him instantly — at least , he might have lived for a few minutes in a technical sense , but he would have been unconscious and effectively dead .
21 You spend a few minutes in a classroom and you find there 's budding farmers , policemen , bank clerks , bus drivers , mothers , harlots , fortunate and starved .
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