Example sentences of "could n't [verb] [conj] [pron] have " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Jennie called me into the office and said that I could n't go as she had received a letter from my mother . |
| 2 | Ruth occupied herself with getting settled on the office stool , aware that she could n't speak until she 'd swallowed the ridiculous tightness in her throat . |
| 3 | We could sit in a meeting in the Sit(uation) Room and be discussing these other activities , and fall into almost a kind of , you know , warp in which you would n't know whether you were talking — I mean , the use of shorthand and so forth in the discussions you could n't tell whether we 'd suddenly slipped into this question of selling arms to get them back this way or whether we were still discussing the other thing . |
| 4 | Afterwards he could n't tell if he had dreamed it , but he was sure little Tero drew close to Maldita several times , trying to prop her up , and twice he felt Tero 's timid nudge of encouragement in his back when he was buckling with exhaustion . |
| 5 | He could n't tell if she had heard . |
| 6 | She really would have preferred a cup of tea , but could n't refuse when they 'd gone to so much trouble . |
| 7 | He could n't think whether they had been in bed for an hour , or four hours . |
| 8 | The Marshal could recall no hard and fast rule about it but he could n't think that he had ever seen the pipers during Lent . |
| 9 | ‘ Gross exaggeration , ’ Fabia laughed , but could n't deny that she had been a great fan of the Czech composers , and still was . |
| 10 | Nolan was disconcerted by having lost on Groundsel though I could n't see that he 'd done anything wrong . |
| 11 | so , erm , last night when we came home I looked at this Argos ticket which I could n't find and I 've , in that I 've found what erm a Weight Watcher er menu , so I picked that out , so I 've had erm do n't know what you 'll call it today , boiled egg and toast , eh bread and butter |
| 12 | The side walls were bricked in in a brick skin , they could n't breathe and we 've had to replace as you saw outside , virtually all the timber . |
| 13 | The fact that Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger ( Bryan Ferry could n't come because he had a cold ) were at my d'Offay Gallery opening last year raised it into a social event , so much so that Robin Vousden said , ‘ We have n't had an opening like this since Andy Warhol ’ . |
| 14 | After they had gone , he said , he could n't remember whether they 'd said goodbye ; whether they had wrapped their arms around their children for a last loving embrace . |
| 15 | He could n't remember whether they 'd been fully done up or simply pushed through loosely . |
| 16 | They lit the candles they had brought and made their way along a passage which led out of the chamber , gazing wordlessly — he could n't remember that they had spoken at all while in there — at the arched limestone walls , at the tunnels that from time to time branched from this central artery , once into a wide gallery whose egress had been blocked by a fall of stone . |
| 17 | He tried to remember if his parents had quarrelled the holidays before she died , but could n't remember that they had . |
| 18 | You know how I do , I could n't remember that I 'd actually started the the Easter term doing the erm choices etcetera , I always thought it was the later half of that term , the latter half of that term . |
| 19 | He could n't remember if he 'd dreamed , Stephen said . |
| 20 | I told him I had planned to take him to lunch but he said he could n't wait as he had some business to attend to , but he 'd be in a pub called the Banker if I could pick him up about three . |
| 21 | In spite of the strangeness of Eliot 's behaviour , however , few people begrudged him the happiness which in personal relations he had never experienced before : " He obviously needed to have a happy marriage , " Valerie Eliot said on a later occasion , " He could n't die until he had had it " . |
| 22 | Some said they 'd , they 'd be interested in playing , they knew how to play certain things and others wanted to play others and that 's how we started , and in a matter of a year the new headquarters at er Lowestoft was being opened , by the Dutchess of Kent , and we decided that the band was going to play at that one and you can imagine , and it was all ready and they were playing music , but I 'm not sure what , what quality music it was , and blow me on the week before , the band leader , the conductor decided he could n't play because he had a sprained wrist so we were left without a conductor even , but we managed to get another conductor and we played and I do n't know what it sounded like , but the Dutchess of Kent was very kind , she said the music sounded lovely . |
| 23 | New friends in London , on the other hand , could n't believe that we had actually volunteered for hardship duty in Britain . |
| 24 | She could n't believe that she had actually thought him human occasionally . |
| 25 | She could n't believe that it had all stopped , the misery , the anguish , the self-recrimination . |
| 26 | Afterwards I could n't believe I had managed to say this ; I could n't believe that I 'd had the intelligence , the wit , the inspiration to come up with this perfect reply . |
| 27 | I did n't know what to say : I could n't believe that I 'd heard him correctly . |
| 28 | When I heard it I just could n't believe that someone had written it . |