Example sentences of "or could not " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | By 1982 we had swept up all but a handful of awkward items whose inhabitants , for varying reasons , did n't want to be or could n't be ‘ nationalised ’ — which was very untidy and inconvenient of them . |
| 2 | That may be the norm , but , of course , there is also the abnorm when things go wrong , when the fire gets out of control , when , perhaps , the fire brigade has been over worked , or could n't find their way for cigarette smoke , or for all that saturated fat that clogged up the wheels of their tenders . |
| 3 | There were also recognized ‘ midwives ’ who would attend confinements and run matters efficiently until the doctor arrived — and quite often when he did n't ( or could n't , because of distance or foul weather ) |
| 4 | All through that evening I pleaded with Kalchu to shoot her , but he would n't , or could n't — none of us could . |
| 5 | No one in racing is above ringing round for spare rides ; one great jump jockey was nicknamed ‘ Ting-a-Ling ’ because of his speed and skill in contacting trainers whose jockeys were injured or could n't do the weight or were simply out of favour . |
| 6 | If we say we believe God is there and that he loves us but live as if he were dead or could n't care less about us , then the beliefs we presuppose in practice are out of line with the beliefs we profess in theory , and we are bound to doubt God eventually . |
| 7 | What a shame that we did n't — or could n't — see more of the role that the Queen actively plays in British politics in the television portrait filmed to mark her 40 years in what she memorably described as a ‘ job for life ’ . |
| 8 | We used to send floppy disks to 1,000 sites and there were lots of problems — people lost disks or could n't find the work book . |
| 9 | Some , like Berkeley 's St Teresa of Avila have been briefly available on a BBC Artium LP ; what a pity this has n't been , or could n't be , included on the ten-disc CD issue from Decca that has been issued at the same time as the book ( see page 78 ) . |
| 10 | Some obvious and important matters were left to one side for years because I could n't see a way forward , or had no time to do the experiments — or could n't find the funds to buy the equipment or chemicals needed . |
| 11 | Young kids , some of them not even teenagers , were arriving all the time , mostly for reasons that they had n't thought through or could n't express . |
| 12 | " That he did n't know or could n't remember . |
| 13 | When was I going to get a proper job , and if I did n't , or could n't , when was I going to get married and settle down . ’ |
| 14 | No one was going to tell her what she could or could n't do , or where she had to go . |
| 15 | If Luke would n't or could n't walk away , she would have to be the one . |
| 16 | When Charles Darwin first explained the matter , many people either would n't or could n't grasp it . |
| 17 | Or could n't . ’ |
| 18 | Or could n't remember . |
| 19 | Ginny Jenkins was stunned ; after all it was 1974 and people would n't , or could n't , believe elder abuse existed . |
| 20 | Whereas similar provisions in other countries were mainly designed to provide facilities which could or could not be used , the Irish ones were to be compulsory and there was to be no choice of doctor . |
| 21 | Of the other 13 POWs , six were given nothing , five either died at that time or could not be traced , and two refused to submit to means testing . |
| 22 | President Christos Sartzetakis asked Mr Grivas to form a government after the main political parties would or could not do so . |
| 23 | He would not tell me , or could not explain . |
| 24 | And perhaps , occasionally , he was frustrated by what he could or could not achieve . |
| 25 | Occasionally , Mr Landor would accuse her of stealing from him when he had mislaid a silver spoon or could not find a precious paperknife , but she had always treated these accusations with the contempt they deserved . |
| 26 | Would there have to be one designer , or could not the world have been designed by several working together ? |
| 27 | Second , it was in the economic interests of the colonial ( and home ) administrations to persuade or force the cultivator to grow produce for the market either because it increased the cultivator 's taxability and therefore he/she could contribute to the infrastructural administrative and policing costs of the colony ; or , where settlers would or could not do the job , it would provide a source of cheap food for the mining workers , particularly in southern Africa . |
| 28 | Nothing had done more to encourage this belief than the Church with its ecclesiastical calendar and regulations concerning what could or could not be done on specific days . |
| 29 | In three cases the client did not like , or could not accept , the support worker . |
| 30 | What they wanted to provide very rarely brought expenditure close to this ceiling , so they had little problem in deciding whether the project could or could not cost-effectively support a client ( see Chapter Six for further details of the cost of care ) . |