Example sentences of "[was/were] [adj] [pron] could [adv] [verb] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Though his hands were free he could not rise , only thrust helplessly at the ground . |
| 2 | Those who listened to him critically were dismayed he could not see that it was not disapproval by pacifists , intellectuals or even cowards that made the Nazi assaults an atrocity . |
| 3 | His hands were cold He could n't tell fish from weed . |
| 4 | No , I 'm sure that they 'd got two little rooms on the ground floor and they were choc-a-block you could hardly get in ! |
| 5 | If the sceptic 's conclusion were true we could not have such knowledge ; so if the conclusion were true we would not be able to understand it . |
| 6 | The pattern of symptoms in this patient refutes the theory that the reason why x , y and z co-occur is that they all reflect damage to a single system ( since if that theory were true you could never get x without y ) ; indeed , this patient shows that there actually is no syndrome ( in the theoretical sense ) defined by the joint occurrence of all three symptoms . |
| 7 | South Africa 's World Cup players were surprised he could not make the West Indian squad . |
| 8 | At the end of the first year Susan realised that although the business was profitable she could hardly take out enough money to live on because she was heavily reliant on her bank and creditors already . |
| 9 | Ma and Pa Pickering tried to probe , but I was sorry I could n't help them . |
| 10 | As I had no access to the Swansea accounts during that time , it was clear I could n't have embezzled anything from the company . |
| 11 | He captured the citadel but he only had a few troops with him and it was clear he could n't hold it for long , so he pushed on east past Excideuil into the Limousin , driving straight into the heartland of the rebel cause and devastating the country as he went . |
| 12 | It was clear she could not banish the image of the dying child . |
| 13 | It was funny I could n't remember . |
| 14 | When evening came I was afraid I could n't trust her , because I did n't know how much you suspected , what clever questions you might have to get at the truth . ’ |
| 15 | Although he had helped to set up British Aerospace as a nationalised company , he was convinced it could not take on the huge rival plane-makers in the United States unless it was unfettered from government control . |
| 16 | Rightly or wrongly I was convinced you could not deal with unemployment without a tariff . |
| 17 | It would come up in the conversation all the time , ‘ So you 've been separated from your husband and you have no boyfriends ? ’ — No — ‘ Are n't you interested in having boyfriends ? ’ — No — Because she was man-mad she could n't understand why I was n't . |
| 18 | Jess was glad she could n't see . |
| 19 | She was glad she could n't see him properly ; the face that undoubtedly matched these horribly sarcastic comments would be bound to make her feel worse than she already did . |
| 20 | Because when she was little she could n't say Jessica |
| 21 | It was obvious we could n't cope , but who on earth could we rely on to sort us out ? |
| 22 | I was sure they could hardly wait , but then to be fair to Fenella she was the only woman under fifty I knew in London who made her own damson jam . |
| 23 | Nenna knew that , but she was sure it could n't have been Edward 's fault , and at the moment she could n't be bothered with it . |
| 24 | I was sure he could well afford it , though we were a small , old-fashioned practice . |
| 25 | Once the door was open it could n't move , so I could n't go down on it . |
| 26 | His mother was in the kitchen doing the ironing and although the door was open she could n't see him . |
| 27 | Peck , though , dismisses the event as ‘ humour ’ and Justin Simpson comments : ‘ If this fable was trustworthy we could scarcely do otherwise than believe that not only was Stamford in days past frequently honoured by the presence of English Kings and Queens , but also that His Satanic Majesty occasionally hunted in the neighbourhood . ’ |
| 28 | It might have been said that since one representative was absent they could not do anything about it , but the fact of the matter is they plainly had come to their decision the day before . |
| 29 | Whilst accepting that ‘ inclination ’ was absent I could not agree that blacks lacked the intellect to do well at school and my work was , in a way , intended to lay bare as false such assumptions . |
| 30 | What was truth and what was fancy I could not know . |