Example sentences of "[prep] if [to-vb] they " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | They shepherded their charges with a cheerful , maternal competence as if to reassure them that the place might look like a prison but was as gently beneficent as a nursing home and that they were only there for their own good . |
| 2 | Even so , his head hurt , it felt as if the planes of his skull were pinching and thumbing his eyes from behind , in the sockets , as if to pop them out . |
| 3 | The lathes were serviced with a light oil film , draped in it as if to give them an overcoat protection that would ensure their survival against age and wear . |
| 4 | Piladu spat the word , and then , as if to distract them , he snapped at his wife , ‘ When are we going to eat ? ’ |
| 5 | I cry out as if to keep them outside of myself . |
| 6 | as if to get them safely stowed , before the violent renewal of war . |
| 7 | The old woman settled back in her chair and shook her shoulders as if to free them from the burdens of the present . |
| 8 | Contrasted with that prospect of classical elegance is the tangle which the visitor sees ahead down the older thoroughfare : the spire of St Giles 's cathedral , entrances to courtyards in which lived men as diverse as the philosopher David Hume and the Jekyll-and-Hyde rogue Deacon Brodie , and high tenement blocks wedged against one another as if to prevent them toppling backwards into a chasm . |
| 9 | He took in the way the little boy 's hands stretched out over the crowd of distressed men as if to soothe them , and , for the first time in his life , he felt something that was not quite fear and not quite joy — an emptiness that longed to be filled . |