Example sentences of "[pers pn] before [pers pn] could " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Then we talked to Miguel again and it turned out the Indian had started this long conversation with him before we could possibly have had the accident . |
| 2 | The dying Pitt , rejoicing in the House of Lords that the grave had not closed over him before he could protest against ‘ the dismemberment of this noble empire ’ , was a tragic figure ; but the tragedy was in the absurdity of the protest . |
| 3 | So I hit him before he could hit me . |
| 4 | And with a short night 's sleep behind him and a miserable hour ahead of him before he could get away to the hospital , the day would be spoiled before it started . |
| 5 | Unable to ‘ hit the bottle ’ , Gary had to take the official doctor home with him before he could provide the required sample . |
| 6 | It drove two of the witnesses to the door , one of them Bloxham , whose nausea overtook him before he could reach the corridor . |
| 7 | ‘ His mother abandoned him before he could crawl , ’ Maxim said . |
| 8 | I would not die easily , and I would try to kill him before he could kill me . |
| 9 | She silenced him before he could speak , shaking her head and putting her finger before her lips . |
| 10 | Though she did stop him before he could get further than to spin her round and begin in a supposed-to-be-seductive tone , ‘ If you want the thrill of a lifetime , Leith — ’ |
| 11 | Theda threw at him before she could stop herself , as an echo of the pain he had inflicted rose again inside her . |
| 12 | I was so surprised that I involuntarily pulled up slightly and I passed over him before I could get him in my gunsight again . |
| 13 | Charlie still looked upset , but Sister removed him before I could take him aside and soothe him . |
| 14 | And the words ‘ peace , peace , peace ’ came to her , as if they were ( but could they be ? ) part of an old prayer , perhaps a prayer which her mother had uttered over her before she could speak . |
| 15 | He was inside her before she could finish the sentence . |
| 16 | ‘ Hold it , ’ he commanded sharply , catching her before she could reach the door . |
| 17 | Roman caught her before she could fall and carried her to the small settee . |
| 18 | Folly felt nakedly vulnerable , and , to her shame , a thrill of excitement ran through her before she could suppress it . |
| 19 | He pulled up at the farm and got out to open the door for her before she could move . |
| 20 | He roared up beside her and ground to a halt , the silence after the noise of the engine actually quite frightening , and he was out of the Land Rover and towering above her before she could even open her mouth . |
| 21 | What would Fen say if she gave him a truthful answer , told him that Hugh had done her a good turn , jilted her before she could make the most dreadful mistake of her life ? |
| 22 | Luke was on his feet and in front of her before she could take a step towards the doors . |
| 23 | ‘ You 're sure of that , are you ? ’ he slammed into her before she could draw another breath . |
| 24 | I had in mind the possibility of a UK registered Concorde crashing into the sea just outside the three mile limit of some State while making an approach to land there and possibly the Russians or some of their friends commencing to salvage it before we could do anything about it . |
| 25 | My parents were not very well off when they bought it , and they had to have quite a lot of work done on it before we could move in . |
| 26 | She had an anonymous letter last night , and tried to burn it before I could see it . |
| 27 | ‘ Just picked up my yoghurt and cucumber sandwich and ate it before I could stop him . |
| 28 | He bent and twisted himself before it , jerking suddenly this way and that , as if he were lying in wait for disease , determined to pounce on it before it could strike . |
| 29 | The trouble with the Labour system is that it would spend many more years trying to introduce it before it could get rid of the poll tax . |
| 30 | He would have to heave her blood-stained body away from the door and then scramble over it before he could race out and lose himself in the hills . |