Example sentences of "[was/were] an [noun sg] [prep] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | The photographs have especially riled the Chinese : ‘ The photographs … had nothing to do with any conceivable social science research topic and were an insult to those who were photographed ’ . |
| 2 | They were an insult to the learner-reader . |
| 3 | But it took a trained observer to follow her through the quicksands of her disapprobation ; a false step on the part of one of the aunts , for instance , could have reversed her attitude , and led her into a eulogy of black , into a martyred position whence the garments of all the others were an insult to her lone and exclusive widowhood , into a position where she alone had the right to flout the weight of tradition . |
| 4 | Deborah told her new boss what she believed the company needed : ‘ Principally the clothes were an insult to the country girls they were trying to portray … they were n't suitable for country wear but they were selling very cheaply to secretaries in towns . |
| 5 | To Lucien , they were an insult to the Vibrancy ; common and coarse . |
| 6 | It has always been puzzling enough that the proportion of men in gynaecology is higher than in any virtually any other specialty , as if detachment were an advantage in this field . |
| 7 | Pécuchet , during his geological investigations , speculates on what would happen if there were an earthquake beneath the English Channel . |
| 8 | Laura was only slightly worried by the adverse publicity but she was bitterly hurt , as if this were an attack on her personally . |
| 9 | Liability Insurance is important if in the future there were an event in which you or your nanny could be accused of negligence resulting in injury to a child in her care or in your house . |
| 10 | If the hon. Gentleman 's words were an invitation to me , I shall take up that invitation . |
| 11 | The other major point is that although the audit of a nationalized industry is set up , and therefore presumably carried out as if it were an audit of a PLC , this does not mean that it will always be so . |
| 12 | It 's true , we were an enclave of revolutionary supporters . |
| 13 | I respect what my right hon. and learned Friend is seeking to say , but surely no true freedom would be properly fettered if there were an inhibition on the publication of names . |
| 14 | It wouldn't 've surprised me that that he could feel were an eyelash like mine was . |
| 15 | The American papers were an inspiration to people like John Lloyd , as they were to the group gathering 400 miles down the A1 . |
| 16 | As it was , an irrelevant image kept popping up in the comer of his eye , dragging his attention away : the image of an old man Iying slumped in the mud against a wall of concrete blocks , turned away , as though death were an act as shameful as intercourse or defecation , which he had sought to conceal as far as possible , even in the bleakly exposed place where it had come to him . |
| 17 | Because of course he knew perfectly well that the promptings of his own nature were an offence to his mother 's moral code . |
| 18 | His objection was that these poetic celebrations of the coarse side of army life were an offence against English traditions of Christian civilisation , forming part of a larger ‘ back wave ’ which was manifesting itself in various ways : ‘ the Hooligan in Politics , in Literature , and Journalism ’ , ‘ the Hooligan spirit of patriotism ’ , and all the other barbaric symptoms of ‘ the restless and uninstructed Hooliganism of the time ’ above which ‘ the flag of a Hooligan Imperialism is raised ’ . |
| 19 | They were an organisation of " warrior monks " who became so powerful that they were eventually disbanded by the Crown . |
| 20 | If there were an excess of saving in the country , capital would be exported , either as direct or portfolio investment . |
| 21 | They were an expression of her inner fears and hopes . |
| 22 | The riots that occurred in the British cities in 1981 and in Brixton and Tottenham subsequently , were an expression of the double — class and racist — nature of ethnic disadvantage in Britain . |
| 23 | Such attitudes were an expression of the tendency of the age to produce simple , general answers to what in modern eyes seem highly complex and intractable problems . |
| 24 | In so far as these religious matters were an expression of English resentment against their conquerors , such a Danish attitude would have tended to appease and disarm the opposition . |
| 25 | But he did advertise his book saying that caves were an exception to the general difficulties , so he can hardly object if that is how his book is judged . |
| 26 | Mr Crump was , in fact , an extremely able , shrewd , exploitative and successful businessman and lawyer whose weaknesses were an over-fondness for his wife and an utter doting on their daughter . |
| 27 | An undertakin g given by a party in person can usually be enforced as if it were an order of the court : Gandolfo v Gandolfo [ 1980 ] 1 All ER 833 . |
| 28 | I 'm sure he could , especially if he were an expert at determining the causes of aircraft lost through explosions — those people are much better at that sort of thing than the Navy is . |
| 29 | You were an asset to us last night , we could n't have managed without you , ’ said Santa , feeling very proud of Randolph . |
| 30 | If record 113 were an addition to the file in fig. 7.15(a) , the new structure would be as in fig. 7.15(b) . |