Example sentences of "had [not/n't] be able " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | He had not been able to go out and be at ease with people . |
| 2 | It had not been able to clarify its position on vital issues such as Punjab violence and communalism . |
| 3 | England captains must not do things like that , but they had not been able to sack him at the time because of the provocation he had been under ; now that he had stepped out of line again he gave them a heaven-sent opportunity to administer the axe . |
| 4 | She had not been able to come to terms with her ‘ public position ’ . |
| 5 | He had not been able to in Edinburgh , but now seemed the ideal time . |
| 6 | Even just now , when for a moment she had not been able to remember what day it was , and when Faith Lavender had already been dead a week . |
| 7 | This particular person had found the shock so great that she had not been able to acknowledge it at all except by taking this evading action . |
| 8 | He was a quiet baby , watchful , with a stillness about him which , if he had not been able to crawl and stand and almost walk , would have been a cause for concern . |
| 9 | In 1347 he promised that the grievances of the Commons should be remedied by Chancery writs against Forest officers , but next year ‘ the commons of the county of Surrey and of other counties ’ complained that although they had sued for a writ in the Chancery , they had not been able to obtain the promised remedy . |
| 10 | She had not been able to work out where the noise had been coming from . |
| 11 | As he sipped his wine in the bright , busy square , he thought that although the language was certainly a problem and one that he would have to continue to struggle with , it only provided him with an excuse , really , an excuse for why he had not been able to get down to the job of looking for Elsie . |
| 12 | At first , Henry had not been able to believe that her therapist had got it so right . |
| 13 | In his researches at Wimbledon Public Library he had not been able to find any really cheering quotations on the subject of death . |
| 14 | But how sad that she had not been able to say that to the one person who really longed to hear it . |
| 15 | The JAC in Leeds admitted that it had not been able to counter the numbers going into dead-end jobs , and a similar admission was made by the Plymouth authorities . |
| 16 | It had been Dr Rolleston 's great sorrow that he had not been able to help children who had come in with the dreaded Infantile Paralysis , not that any other professor in Europe had been able to do better than by careful nursing stop the paralysis spreading . |
| 17 | Zoophilus had not been able to acquire a copy of Vial 's plan but he put forward a plan of his own for an animal hospital , for a regular set of teachers forming a school , and provision for receiving living subjects in various states of disease . |
| 18 | She explained that she had not been able to bring herself to discuss things with them , although she had managed to speak to her married brother , who had been very supportive and helpful . |
| 19 | While they were walking they had not been able to see it , because there were hills in the way ; but now they saw that the cottage was really built on a cliff , and down below them was a small bay . |
| 20 | Forster made use of this in a way his predecessors had not been able to . |
| 21 | At the end of the session , June Braithwaite said she had found it useful ; she had not needed to become hysterical , and he had not been able to leave and disappear into the kitchen . |
| 22 | She certainly had not been able to learn to swim when the other children did ; in fact she had constantly been in trouble at school because she would invent any excuse to avoid even going near the swimming pool . |
| 23 | She had not been able to hold down a job because of her phobia — no one is really willing to employ someone who will only come into the office on fine days , particularly in England ! |
| 24 | Suddenly a man will see himself as a sexual failure rather than as someone who simply had not been able to achieve an erection on one single occasion . |
| 25 | She had not been able to imagine why she should be suffering those anxiety attacks for so long . |
| 26 | He had not been able to buy himself provisions , both grocery shops were closed . |
| 27 | Sharing a common cultural and spiritual heritage with a section of the older and more firmly entrenched Liberal Party , Labour simply had not been able to capture sufficient support from the working-class electorate . |
| 28 | She needed several things she had not been able to bring away from the Holborn house ; chemises , petticoats , nightgowns , drawers , a frilled nightcap that had taken her fancy , stockings , handkerchiefs . |
| 29 | Guilt rose in Dinah ; she had never returned Mrs Gracie 's money ; she had not been able to . |
| 30 | He was aware of this and in principle disliked it , attempting when he first set up in private practice , to resist it , but he had not been able to . |