Example sentences of "[modal v] only [verb] be the [noun] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | This in turn suggests that class politics of the old sort may only have been the politics of modernism in its classic , now discredited phase . |
| 2 | It may only have been the milestone of hitting thirty , but I could n't help feeling that it was proof that life was passing me by . |
| 3 | Even so , she felt sure that it was something to do with her , that there should only have been the Maxwell girl there . |
| 4 | It might only have been the light reflected from his costume , yet once again he seemed embarrassed by her presence . |
| 5 | Just before ten o'clock , in the stillness of the night , I heard the noise of a motor car : it could only have been the doctor 's . |
| 6 | The good prospect ’ he added , ‘ could arise if , as individuals , we felt able to resist the temptation to produce when that production does no more than fill up warehouses and to resist the temptation to chase prices down with what I can only assume is the objective of preserving a small bit of market share ’ . |
| 7 | ‘ It can only have been the smell of the mothballs . ’ |
| 8 | Between these extremes conditions varied endlessly , with so many towns sharing the social structure of their rural environments that cases of exceptional wealth can only have been the outcome of special circumstances . |