Example sentences of "[prep] if [v-ing] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | This elderly Czech émigré , an unsuccessful literary man , is the godfather of her husband 's boyfriend , Tomas , a sharp-looking little hustler with disconcerting ways ( he asks for a glass of water as if issuing a command ) . |
| 2 | Look straight ahead as if gazing at a place on a wall . |
| 3 | Clench the jaws , as if chewing hard , while pushing your tongue hard against the roof of your mouth . |
| 4 | He lit up a cigarette and moved his mouth around as he inhaled as if chewing the flavour of the smoke . |
| 5 | He twitched his shoulders as if shrugging the burden of Georgina on to the new arrival . |
| 6 | We turn up to funerals in everyday clothes , we refuse to let people send flowers so there is no opportunity for a communal expression of feeling , we are reluctant to take more than one day off work on the grounds that we 're better getting on with life as if weeping and mourning had no part in real life . |
| 7 | It is no more than the action of clashing their teeth together as if sinking them into the neck of the prey , in the specialized killing bite of the cat , but it has become a sound signal that many observers have commented on . |
| 8 | Filled with world-weariness and self-disgust , she towelled herself zealously , as if wishing to flay herself . |
| 9 | It seemed to Joan that the wedding-ring was burning her finger ; it caught the light , glistering brightly as if wishing to draw attention to the fact that it was embellishing an alien hand . |
| 10 | The coroner sat with lips pursed , staring down at the empty platters and dishes as if wishing the food he had devoured would magically reappear . |
| 11 | On one occasion he put his handprints on the painting as if beseeching the canvas to acknowledge the exiled body . |
| 12 | Thomas cleared his throat , as if dislodging an embarrassment . |
| 13 | ‘ I am the centre of my existence , ’ Clare sang , as if chanting a psalm , pitching her voice an octave lower , as she pushed Josh to her playgroup the next morning . |
| 14 | All of them were sitting forward in their seats , as if bracing themselves for a collision . |
| 15 | She looked back at him , anger flashing in her eyes again , then looked down , as if relenting . |
| 16 | He was also a noisy eater , as if providing an orchestral accompaniment for his brother . |
| 17 | Which is not to say he 's a hippy soul surfer , a revivalist sporting a long Malibu board and casually riding a wave 's length as if strolling in the park . |
| 18 | As he stood contemplating it , as if hesitating to violate its calm , there was a moment of extraordinary silence in which even the muted roar of the traffic in the avenue was stilled and in which it seemed to him that two images , the shining façade of the house and that dusty blood-boltered room in Paddington , were held suspended out of time , then fused so that the stones were blood splattered , the caryatids dripped red . |
| 19 | Melissa was beginning to wish the conversation had never started ; the last thing she wanted was to become embroiled in a dispute between two women she hardly knew , but Rose was looking her squarely in the eye as if demanding a response to her outburst . |
| 20 | ‘ What was it , Jessamy ? ’ he asked , and his dark brown eyes bored into hers , as if demanding an answer . |
| 21 | The leaves in the canopy trembled in the breeze , as if conversing soundlessly . |
| 22 | The most irredeemably damned , in their white dinner jackets and turbans or strapless black sheaths and dripping jewellery , clogged up the lower circles , dropping chips onto the grid as if casting swill to the pigs . |
| 23 | Still only sixteen , it looked as if acting would become the career for which Crawford had hoped . |
| 24 | His mouth opened and closed , as if gasping for breath , the dying struggle of an animal bleeding out its life through the sacrificial cut . |
| 25 | as if embracing the limbo of the stateless person , Joyce called himself Wilhelm Froelich , the surname ‘ Joyful ’ being a pun upon his own . |
| 26 | Erika frowned and tilted her head as if trying to remember and then , cruelly , said , ‘ Oh yes , where I danced with that interesting lad , and with Herman Guttenbruk . ’ |
| 27 | He looked long and hard at the younger executive as if trying to sum him up . |
| 28 | The wealthy , as if trying to secure their dead not only against body-snatchers , but against decay itself , encased them in immense coffins , lined with lead , which six men could scarcely carry , leading Dickens to write of ‘ a blind monster with twelve human legs , shuffling and blundering along . ’ |
| 29 | But her imagination continued to torment her , replaying this last scene over and over again , as if trying to force her into admitting that the only person in her life who really cared about her might be dead . |
| 30 | The light leaps and spits inside her as if trying to escape . |