Example sentences of "[pron] can hardly be [vb pp] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | My belief that I am in pain may be justified , perhaps , but I can hardly be said to base it on reasons , conclusive or otherwise . |
| 2 | ‘ I can hardly be blamed if the production was cancelled . ’ |
| 3 | ‘ I can hardly be expected to have a great deal of time for gardening , ’ she said , ‘ I am forced to pay out money for gardening help . ’ |
| 4 | I can hardly be expected to know that , can I ? |
| 5 | And I can hardly be expected to leave my three-year-old brother here in the care of a strange man . ’ |
| 6 | If you 've got some new material on him that you want to share with us , I 'm more than happy to arrange another lecture for you later in the term , but frankly , as you 've apparently given the same lecture on him for the past ten years , I can hardly be accused of interfering with academic freedom , can I ? ’ |
| 7 | If I go to a match in Europe , I come back to a stack of videos and I can hardly be bothered . |
| 8 | I can hardly be held accountable for the vagaries of a junior research assistant ! ’ |
| 9 | She moves ( for example ) between speaking of the crucifixion of Christ ( fact ) to the cosmic nature of Christ — which can hardly be said to be ‘ true ’ in the sense of an empirically known fact . |
| 10 | Instead it turns out to be very much concerned with rhetoric , which can hardly be said to be new for this age or even essentially syntactic . |
| 11 | This position , actual or potential for all women , leads to a version of the self which is more likely to be defined in relationship and which therefore implies certain commitments or responsibilities which can hardly be denied . |
| 12 | There is a mystery in many percussion sounds which can hardly be matched by the whole orchestra . |
| 13 | If we turn to volcanic deposits , which can hardly be regarded as exceptional in earth history , we can find many examples of great thicknesses accumulating very rapidly indeed . |
| 14 | Most of the remaining papers dealt with therapy for single problems ( smoking and obesity ) , the results of which can hardly be generalised . |
| 15 | Within the Nazi Movement and the coercive apparatus of the State , symbolizing the struggle to rid Germany of its Jews , and increasingly the struggle to destroy Jewry itself once and for all , it had a significance which can hardly be overrated . |
| 16 | Robert Malcolmson 's pioneering researches have placed eigh-teenth-century recreations sociologically with a thoroughness and insight which can hardly be equalled in a general textbook . |
| 17 | A clear and detailed historical account of this event is given by Ammianus Marcellinus , who has always been accepted as one of the more reliable of the ancient historians , although it has been recently pointed out by Professor Malcolm Todd that Theodosius I was the patron of Marcellinus , who can hardly be blamed for enlarging on the achievements of the father of the Emperor . |
| 18 | Now this is an argument that is so intellectually contemptible that you can hardly be bothered to demolish it . |
| 19 | I know you can hardly be expected to adopt all your expressions erm but you should n't be too technical in you know . |
| 20 | These ‘ activities ’ are not temporary ( more 's the pity ) but they can hardly be equated with the professor 's letter typing , which is a periodic state of affairs and will not last . |
| 21 | They are low , so low that they can hardly be called a threshold — more a ramp , with a sign over it begging ‘ Please , please walk up ’ . |
| 22 | Such combinations constitute formulaic patterns which are indeed of very frequent occurrence in language use and need to be accounted for ( as I mentioned in Chapter 3 ) but they can hardly be said to represent the total language to be taught . |
| 23 | Some words are already almost music : Shakespeare 's words are already so musical that they can hardly be set to music . |
| 24 | Their delicate character and the fact that they accompanied a woman means that they can hardly be interpreted literally as weapons . |
| 25 | Blimpish or not , they can hardly be expected to do otherwise . |
| 26 | But even though sponges can produce such miraculous complexities as this , they can hardly be counted as properly integrated multicellular animals . |
| 27 | Although the Stack Light Rifle or SLR combines the looks of a gun with part of the optical system of a camera it can hardly be rated as a precision piece of equipment . |
| 28 | Mrs Heatherton 's son John is not present today , and that will sorely disappoint all the young ladies present ; he is so handsome it can hardly be believed . ’ |
| 29 | In small birds it can hardly be rendered except as a blur of wings ; we can sometimes see their wingspread clearly when they threaten each other or quarrel at bird tables . |
| 30 | Yet governments ought to resist the temptation to dismiss peace movements as representing only a minority opinion , for it is in the nature of a wider but vaguer anxiety about the issue that it can hardly be organized or form the basis of a coherent campaign . |