Example sentences of "[conj] [subord] [pron] could [vb infin] [noun] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Because they believed — and we had better believe it also — that if they could make individuals conscious only of the need for personal gratification , they would have neither desire nor energy to combine and work for the downfall of the enemy . |
| 2 | They were told that if they could supply soap , toothpaste , toothbrushes , disposable razors , disinfectant , cotton sheets and pillow-cases and adult shorts and T-shirts , such items could be shipped to Honduras free of charge on a returning banana boat . |
| 3 | Barth therefore concluded that it was correct to argue that if we could define God then God must exist . |
| 4 | He thought that if you could orient molecules in yarn or film — just as Wallace Carothers did when he invented nylon in the same company in the 1930s — why could n't you apply the same technique to plastic bottles to make them stronger ? |
| 5 | Its bed and furniture were entirely homely , however , and perhaps not as dainty as the elegant young French lady might like , but it did have a nice view of the hustle and bustle of Newington Butts , and Mrs Beavis always reckoned that if you could see life going on from your window , you could n't grumble too much about not having dainty furniture . |
| 6 | Sense that if I could let Goldberg see it there must be something there to see . |
| 7 | She had the feeling that if she could get Eddie to go on talking long enough , there was a chance that something significant would emerge . |
| 8 | Companies responsible for its prospects have gone out of business seven times , discovering that while they could make money on the big promotions , the building and park were too expensive to run on a tickover basis ( nowadays the park alone costs £650,000 a year to maintain ) , and in an earlier era of six-day working weeks , the public had not much leisure time to spend there anyway . |
| 9 | However , cautious and pragmatic as ever , I realised that before I could take part in the airier abstractions of my chosen profession I needed to confront the nitty-gritty , the hard business of actually selling things , specific products , to industrial customers . |
| 10 | In 1681 he launched Pennsylvania ( which included three counties that in 1702 became Delaware ) as an immense private estate to which settlers were welcomed and where they could buy land on relatively easy terms . |
| 11 | What it boiled down to was : there was here , where he had friends and family , or there was London where he had a few friends and a lot of contacts , and it felt like things were happening , and where you could fill time with something no matter how mixed up and fraudulent you felt … or there was abroad , of course ; the rest of the world ; India ( to take the most extreme example he 'd found so far ) , where you felt like an alien , lumbering and self-conscious , materially far more rich and spiritually far more poor than the people who thronged the place , where just by that intensity of touching , that very sweating crowdedness , you felt more apart , more consigned to a different , echoing place inside yourself . |
| 12 | His mother the dowager Queen Isabella survived until 1358 and if she could transmit title to Edward III , why could not Jeanne of Navarre , Louis X 's daughter , or any of the daughters of Philip V do likewise ? |
| 13 | That there would be evacuations , they thought very likely and if I could leave Wiltshire and get back again , there would be no problem . |
| 14 | Two children from her husband 's first marriage were also staying , ‘ and if I could have pictures , ’ she says , ‘ I would have drawn the house with big bulges all over it . ’ |
| 15 | ‘ And if you could meet Swire Sugden yourself he might listen to you being an honourable an' all that , ’ said Otley to my amazement , I never knew he was a royalist . |
| 16 | The wedding had to be postponed because she became ill , and before it could take place , the King dissolved Parliament and revoked its laws . |
| 17 | I remember coming home from school and before you could do homework or go out to play there were always chores to do — you know , our own set of chores . |
| 18 | Whereupon I fell about in my chair at this with an effective simulacrum of sycophancy , then matadored the old charm around in front of him for a few minutes , and before you could say fundador Walt was on his knees begging me for the coup de grâce . |
| 19 | You might be in here , harmless , visiting somebody , and before you could say Werewolves Unite they 'd have you on the operating table , jacking both legs off . |
| 20 | He hesitated before her a moment , and then he took her hands and bent his head , and gave her the solemn kiss of kinship ; and before she could draw breath and touch her astonished fingers to her lips , he was out of the paddock and away across the clearing into the trees . |
| 21 | But although he could see areas of hewn stonework that seemed to close him in , and although he could certainly see barred windows through which light streamed , there were no gaolers , and there were no other prisoners . |
| 22 | But if one could aim films at a European market of 300 million people , that would be a very different story . |
| 23 | ‘ But if we could swap jobs for one day my first task would be to address the Free World wearing the Everton strip , then run a Blues flag up the mast at the White House . ’ |
| 24 | But if she could elude constable , guards and attendants one way , she supposed she could likewise elude them the other . |
| 25 | But before they could go shots rang out . |
| 26 | ‘ I decided it was time to say goodbye , but before I could give notice Sam Hall , the Benskin 's area manager , phoned me to say the company was going to turn the Harrow into a managed house . |
| 27 | Obviously he had overheard , but before he could speak Merrill said hurriedly , ‘ I — I 'm sorry , Sam , but I ca n't . |
| 28 | The second policeman managed to get a shot off in panic , but before he could take aim properly , one of the skinheads smashed his shoulder with a baseball bat and knocked him down the aisle steps . |
| 29 | But before he could besiege Turenne , sickness among his men caused him to withdraw . |
| 30 | The prosecutor rose to give the opening address but before he could begin Kesselring 's chief defence lawyer , Dr Hans Laternser , asked the court to grant an adjournment . |