Example sentences of "had tried [verb] [pron] " in BNC.
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| 1 | God only knew how he had tried to replace her in his thoughts and in his heart — striking relationships with one woman after another , lurching from one crisis to the next , building his business with her in mind … driving himself like a man demented and amassing a fortune , yet knowing all the time that he was striving for the impossible . |
| 2 | ‘ What 's the rush ? ’ a harried clerk had asked when Caroline had tried to talk her way into being permitted to enter a summer class that was already under way . |
| 3 | He did n't say anything , but she could imagine the ranging of his thoughts — how he himself had tried to talk her into something , though he could n't know how she had stonewalled past the point where she knew what she was doing . |
| 4 | In the moments when she had drifted nearer to consciousness she 'd thought she saw Corrie sitting on the bed , but when she had tried to lift her arms to gather her close the vision faded away . |
| 5 | When that argument had failed , she had tried taunting herself with infatuation — with having developed a schoolgirl-like crush that would n't outlast separation . |
| 6 | She had tried to do what Cara had asked of her . |
| 7 | Lined up against the working mums were women who 'd given up work to look after their children , women who 'd had working mothers themselves and felt they had missed out , and women who had tried to do it all and given up the struggle . |
| 8 | Twice the doctor had tried to push his arm inside her to turn the child and each time he had failed . |
| 9 | Lowell had tried to form her in that woman 's image . |
| 10 | He had tried to reach her but was beaten back by flames . |
| 11 | Arthur grunted a serviceable yes or no , perfected in combat with supercilious wine waiters who had tried to test his strength , or his French , or both . |
| 12 | Ashton had tried to see him out after that , and even wanted to shake hands with him , but Steven had spat at his feet and made a rude sign at him . |
| 13 | Potiphar 's wife , likewise , had made an article of clothing serve her own purpose , in that case to convince her husband that Joseph had tried to seduce her . |
| 14 | ‘ If I had tried to seduce you , ’ he growled , ‘ you would know it . ’ |
| 15 | History had tried to repeat itself , she realised bitterly ; she 'd allowed a man to sweep her off her feet with honeyed words — just as her mother had before her . |
| 16 | Corbett had tried to give her reasonable answers , deliberately omitting any reference to the attack in Catte Street or the murder of Father Reynard . |
| 17 | He had tried to give her an injection but it had only made her more hysterical . |
| 18 | She knew that he had tried to give her the impression that he was going off on a promiscuous adventure and expected this to arouse in her both admiration and jealousy , but as Lydia 's misdemeanours were more of the spirit than of the flesh she found promiscuity not merely sinful but foolish and disgusting . |
| 19 | The city had tried ameliorating its appalling traffic congestion by restricting entry to the city : card whose registration plates ended in an even number were permitted to enter one day and those in an odd number the next . |
| 20 | I feel if we had tried to turn their defence we might have had some luck . |
| 21 | In an exchange of letters with lay critics of the Royal Society of Chemistry-s award of a fellowship to the ‘ world-ranking scientist and academician ’ , J. S. Gow , the Society 's Secretary-General , had tried to distance it from the Romanian laureate . |
| 22 | Mr Crangle had tried to persuade him all night not to take the Bookman away but all Mr Slipper had done was smile and ask him not to be so unfriendly . |
| 23 | My cousins had tried to persuade him to move to Nottingham where housing was much cheaper , but he liked London and stuck it out until he could afford to buy . |
| 24 | His agent in Shropshire West had tried to persuade him to stay with his local Party members in a small , temperance hotel , but he had refused . |
| 25 | Kopyion had tried to persuade him that he did not need to come to the hoverport . |
| 26 | Mr Sugar revealed that at one point one of his children had tried to persuade him to ‘ throw in the towel ’ . |
| 27 | Gide had tried to persuade his mother , as he had persuaded himself , that bringing Athman to Paris was a ‘ moral rescue ’ , a question of the salvation of a boy through adoption . |
| 28 | It was not only because he wanted no extra work that the husband had tried to persuade his wife she had enough on her plate without insisting on a birthday party for their four-year-old . |
| 29 | Duncan had tried to explain what he was doing , but most of it went straight over Myeloski 's head . |
| 30 | She had tried to curb it , but her tongue had been like acid . |