Example sentences of "[adj] [noun sg] before [pron] could " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | The US State Department 's response was that it needed to see the blueprints on European defence before it could think of pouring concrete . |
| 2 | Yeah , and there 's another couple of guys and they were saying that how strict the training was when they first took it on you know that the their masters used to beat them and everything , into submission , s said they had to have complete submission before they could train them to be what they were , you know , bring them up , teach them and train them |
| 3 | This first important flowering of opera outside Italy , however , was cut short by domestic rebellion and foreign invasion before it could strike roots and even the scores , like Schütz 's , have disappeared without trace . |
| 4 | It was an unhappy morning , and a sulky afternoon , and when towards evening Clarissa had collected enough moral courage to approach the telephone , it rang for an incoming call before she could pick it up . |
| 5 | If she met an alien in Wandsworth High Street , she 'd be telling it the way to the supermarket and offering it free babysitting before you could say ‘ flying saucer ’ . |
| 6 | Car and bodies had been so badly charred that it was some time before they could be identified . |
| 7 | It was some time before she could gather her forces sufficiently to stand up and rest her hands on the chill white plaster of the window embrasure . |
| 8 | He became very depressed for some time before he could reassess himself , start to use his considerable abilities and begin courting his wife again . |
| 9 | It was so faint that he had to look at it for some time before he could make any sense of it . |
| 10 | Which only set Nigel off more , and it was some time before he could attempt an explanation . |
| 11 | Coxswain Wight had to head offshore for nearly three miles in a north-easterly direction before he could turn the lifeboat down-weather to the south-east on a course for St Abbs head . |
| 12 | On the other hand , ’ the flat menace in his voice silenced her indignant denial before it could be voiced , ‘ a woman in her twenties might reasonably be expected to show more intelligence . |
| 13 | She moved slowly , so slowly indeed that for a moment she was alone in the centre of the aisle , a swan gliding on still water abandoned there , waiting to be rescued — creating such emotion in several manly breasts that not everyone noticed that the bride and groom had already reached the altar , waiting the approach of their chief bridesmaid before they could be joined together . |
| 14 | He did n't know you had to change $60 into cordobas at the official rate before you could get into the country . |
| 15 | It was only a forty-minute scramble away from Bira through dry and spiny scrub before we could see the great tree looming far above any of the surrounding vegetation . |
| 16 | ‘ He should have an intensive medical examination and a complete psychological assessment before he could be considered to box Benn for that title . |
| 17 | In many ways the part of a horseman 's job calling for most of his skill was that concerned with working the land , and using a standard of craftsmanship set immeasurably high both by the tradition of his craft and by the immediate needs of cultivation ; and a horseman served a long and disciplined apprenticeship before he could attain to the standard demanded . |
| 18 | ‘ I 'll admit you had cause for complaint when we used charcoal that needed a good layer of white ash before we could start cooking . |
| 19 | He was n't hurt , but I was a fully fledged professor before I could afford another . |
| 20 | It was to take a further ten years and another major crisis before he could emerge from despair and find a solution to his angst and disorientation in the ranks of the party . |
| 21 | It took him a long while before he could face Magrit again . |
| 22 | It was a long while before I could even change her nappy , and putting clothes on , you had to disconnect all the wires , put the clothes on and put them all back . |
| 23 | We had to walk right down almost to the sea at its low-tide limit before we could get across . |
| 24 | There were many records of such manifestations , from reliable and intelligent observers , who had often described the curious incident before they could possibly have heard bad news from India or Australia , where at that moment a friend 's life was endangered . |
| 25 | Furthermore , even if a woman paid in for a full pension she had to pass the ‘ half test ’ ; that is , she had to work for at least half of her married life before she could count in her contributions both before and after marriage ( Groves , 1983 , pp. 45–7 ) . |
| 26 | At her desperate movement , Guy promptly shoved his unexpected visitor 's face into the bedding with a large , relentless hand before she could let loose a scream . |
| 27 | But er we , we had quite a difficulty , very , very difficult , we used to have to walk a long way before we could get to a telephone . |
| 28 | It was a long time before I could believe that it was really Kāli , come back to find me . |
| 29 | The annual camp for secondary schools Cadet Corps gave me my first holiday away from home , but I was so homesick that a fortnight seemed an impossibly long time before I could get back to my parents and family . |
| 30 | I 'd always known he was going to die , and so had he , really , but when it happened — it was a long time before I could really face it . |