Example sentences of "could [not/n't] [verb] [be] [adj] [prep] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Liza could not help being conscious of the similarity of the weather conditions which , nine months previously , had been responsible for today 's journey . |
| 2 | Nevertheless , Jules could not have been serious in his suggestion that she might for one single instant consider becoming Monsieur 's mistress . |
| 3 | These sudden changes of level could not have been conducive to the movement of carts and animals about the establishment . |
| 4 | ‘ There could not have been much of a selection this time , then . |
| 5 | It could not have been easy for these men to deliver flocks and herds safely to their destination and the advent of motor transport must have been a blessing to animals . |
| 6 | In the yard at the back , a slow burning bon fire added to the pong which could not have been good for those living nearby . |
| 7 | Author 's Note : — The compilation of earlier chapters of this book could not have been possible without Abraham Farrar 's researches to point the way . |
| 8 | It was unclear whether Japanese armed forces would be developed significantly but given the covert encouragement given by General Willoughby and others to Japanese defences — of which the Soviet Union could not have been unaware through intelligence activities — disquiet was bound to increase . |
| 9 | Both establishments had open fronts so that conditions for employees could not have been pleasant during the winter months . |
| 10 | The political ground could not have been better for a new middle party and many , including myself , thought that they could well achieve the breakthrough they sought . |
| 11 | EGG production could not have been better in the new EC-regulation , stress-free perchery barn of Mr Tony Wilson-Brown on his Lincolnshire farm , when his 2,700 brown hens listened to Radio 4 for 13 hours a day . |
| 12 | Former Mossad colleagues have insisted hotly that Harari could not have been involved in the drugs trade , but he is clearly a hard man to defend . |
| 13 | They watched a woman , who could not have been long in this country , testing a mango for ripeness : she felt it all over with her thumb , not looking at it , concentrated , unsmiling , until the stall holder , ever-vigilant , caught sight of her . |
| 14 | Yet he could not have been long in the water . |
| 15 | The appointment of Dulles could not have been welcome to him , for Dulles carried great weight in the Republican Party and would rival his own authority as the principal expert on Japan . |
| 16 | The previous evening , I could not have completed the last fifty yards without his help , but now if he had climbed on my back he could not have been more of a hindrance . |
| 17 | He could not have been aware of it , for it was the only untidy thing in the room , a banner of disorder in the midst of the most rigid ranking . |
| 18 | ‘ Then Orient came in for me and I could not have been happier with the way things worked out . ’ |
| 19 | Quite how hard , though , could not have been clear to Sir Denys Henderson when he took the chair at Britain 's biggest manufacturing company five years ago . |
| 20 | ‘ I am absolutely satisfied that the biopsy needle could not have been responsible for the rupture in the wall of the aneurysm , which was on the far side from the point where the needle entered , ’ said Mr Miles . |
| 21 | The heretical ideas that were to label Darwin as ‘ the man who killed the Creator ’ could not have been further from his thoughts . |
| 22 | When his lips met hers , shock rippled through her because her conjectures could not have been further from the truth . |
| 23 | He could n't have been unconscious for long , looking back , but it seemed an eternity at the time . |
| 24 | It could n't have been far from where he was standing now , though he would n't have been able to say where exactly . |
| 25 | It could n't have been easy for her , a young unmarried mother , coming back to Ireland . |
| 26 | I know now that you could n't have been involved in Clive Kemp 's drug-running plans . |
| 27 | Oh I shall never regret Er I do n't know but I 'm just perhaps one on me own , but er it could n't have been better for because I was a freelance and er I wanted to learn and wanted to get on and they allowed me , they allowed me to do what I wanted . |
| 28 | The former topless model turned singer could n't have been closer to her father Pat Fox , and mother Carole , at the height of her glamour career . |
| 29 | What a shame it could n't have been more of a humdinger . |
| 30 | The match could n't have been more of a thriller if it had been written in Hollywood . |