Example sentences of "they [vb past] [adv] been [adj] [verb] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | But Liz had never mentioned that Ross was so staggeringly good-looking ; nor had she made any reference to his devastating physical impact , although , to be fair , since both she and her cousin had only just finished taking their final college examinations , they 'd hardly been able to spend any time together before the wedding . |
| 2 | Often the timbers were no more than columns of sort of dampish dust because they had n't been able to breathe in this kind of brick envelope . |
| 3 | They wanted to reopen Sadler 's Wells with Carmen , Aida , Trovatore , operas they had n't been able to perform during the war . |
| 4 | They had n't been able to light a fire . |
| 5 | He felt he had the upper hand for once , and they had n't been able to set up the Microwave Gun yet , either ; he felt cool and relaxed . |
| 6 | There were a lot of people there who felt seriously about what they were fighting for but people went there for a good fight really , they had n't been able to show any aggression for the last two years . |
| 7 | He had had her arrested for theft , but , although the jade was gone , they had n't been able to prove she had taken it . |
| 8 | They had n't been able to contact the elderly woman , who lived there . |
| 9 | They had n't been able to contact the elderly woman , who lived there . |
| 10 | They needed British and West European support more than they had previously been prepared to admit . |
| 11 | The local gentry and others were presented for taking the deer , which they had probably been accustomed to do for generations with little interference . |
| 12 | Three members of the audience were then selected at random and , having ascertained that they had no objection , were hypnotised and , while in the hypnotic state , were asked those questions which they had formerly been unable to answer . |
| 13 | Gerry Skelton , Borders district secretary of the TGWU , said that when the benefits agencies had mistakenly paid out extra money to claimants they had not been prepared to wait four years for the cash to be handed back . |
| 14 | 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 . |
| 15 | They had not been able to travel fast , Wynne-Jones finding riding hard and requiring constant rests . |
| 16 | Rain asked whether they had not been able to get the story published elsewhere . |
| 17 | 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 . |
| 18 | It was later admitted by the men that " unfortunately , in that treaty , they had not been able to obtain any particular conditions " for women . |
| 19 | 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 . |
| 20 | From the 1650s onwards , judges had ordered convicts to be transported , but they had only been able to do this by passing a death sentence and then getting it commuted . |
| 21 | For professional development teachers the result was that they had only been able to learn through personal experience and had thus done so more slowly than was necessary : |
| 22 | But that first day they had only been able to afford two bottles of Anjou rosè . |
| 23 | There had not been many Prussians at the bridge , for at best they had only been supposed to delay the French advance . |
| 24 | They had never been able to like Sean Walsh , not since the very first day he had turned up at Benny 's tenth birthday party . |
| 25 | There was some shrapnel in one of his legs which they had never been able to get out . |
| 26 | The barn was big and roomy , and they had always been able to play the noisiest games in it without fear of disturbing or upsetting anyone , for there was nobody living within half a mile of it . |
| 27 | All they had ever been able to do in the face of violence was to bend to it . |
| 28 | Nevertheless , in accordance with the regulations of the shipping company , they had all been obliged to buy return tickets . |
| 29 | On his retirement he and Mrs. Scott — a source of strength and encouragement throughout the years in Stockport — moved to Plymouth , where they had long been accustomed to spend their summer holidays . |
| 30 | Abolitionists were also therefore demanding direct intervention by the imperial government to end a species of property and override the role of local assemblies with which they had earlier been prepared to collaborate . |