Example sentences of "[modal v] hardly be [verb] [verb] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Therefore the admission which the Prime Minister wrung from him could hardly be said to have been grudging . |
| 2 | The English armies could hardly be said to have been outfought since they had not yet fought at all . |
| 3 | The resistance of Ulster had not been created by British Unionists and could hardly be said to depend on them , but the knowledge of support was certainly useful to Carson and Craig in giving their plans for rebellion an official look . |
| 4 | That could hardly be called sampling the capital 's restaurants ! |
| 5 | However , the formation of unisons is not always satisfactory or possible ( for example , in Example 140 above each voice could hardly be made to play the same unison D , for contrapuntal reasons , nor could it sound completely satisfactory ) . |
| 6 | There was a letter from George Langley , from Cambridge , waiting for her at Bishopstow but somehow it did not interest her , she could hardly be bothered to open it . |
| 7 | They did not care about the burst tyre — all 14 inches and $400 of it — and could hardly be bothered to check the rest of the car . |
| 8 | It was a relief not to have to soothe and propitiate an experienced detective who could hardly be expected to welcome a commander from the new C1 squad intruding on his patch . |
| 9 | Sheep would not safely graze nor would spring lambs nor calves ; the average farmer could hardly be expected to stock them for old times ' sake . |
| 10 | The Soviet authorities had no reason to take any interest in the fate of a handful of foreign invaders when over twenty million of their own people had been killed , while as for the Italians , it had suddenly become clear that they had in fact been anti-Fascists to a man all along and could hardly be expected to sympathize with the relatives of those few fanatics who had been rash enough to fight for the despised Duce . |
| 11 | They could hardly be expected to agree to less , and they 're excellent tenants . ’ |
| 12 | Poland had by now withdrawn most of its trade through the city to its own port at Gdynia , and the Reich could hardly be expected to maintain or guarantee for an indefinite period the subsidy the city required.20 Lipski and Göring agreed that Germany and Poland should draw together in an understanding that they would jointly stabilise the city if the League should either collapse or decide to withdraw from Danzig . |
| 13 | He argued that , on the one hand , reproduction is mainly practised by peasants and others of low rank , who could hardly be expected to show much interest in whether they produced male or female children . |
| 14 | ‘ You could hardly be expected to understand . |
| 15 | Some teachers pointed out that many of these aspects of their school were good anyway and therefore the review could hardly be expected to bring about any dramatic improvement . |
| 16 | No doubt the teacher too is superior , but she would hardly be expected to feel joyful on that account . |
| 17 | Both are very effective but can hardly be rated sporting in our terms . |
| 18 | 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 . |
| 19 | The Tema Russo Finale can hardly be said to go off like a rocket either . |
| 20 | 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 . |
| 21 | It can hardly be said to do so any longer . |
| 22 | And just as well : because , however persuasive the case for the public ownership of particular industries , experience since 1945 can hardly be said to bear out the general case , the proposition that public ownership is the necessary precursor to the realisation of the rights of man . |
| 23 | By themselves , these facts do not stand as a complete answer to the challenge : if the industrial co-operative form of organisation is more efficient than the conventional form , why is it that the first has not displaced the second but has remained until recently a negligible feature of the economy and , even now , can hardly be said to have become so far of more than marginal importance ? |
| 24 | Joseph Needham 's only indexed reference to dreaming in ancient China is tantalizingly brief : Oneiromancy , or prognostication by dreams , was also practised in China , as in most ancient civilisations , though it can hardly be said to have taken a very important place there . |
| 25 | Given their less-favoured area status , Scottish and north of Scotland agriculture can hardly be said to have contributed to the problems of CAP overproduction and the related MacSharry implications . |
| 26 | Chomsky ( 1957 : 100 ) goes even further , for he holds that to is a morpheme that " can hardly be said to have a meaning in any independent sense " . |
| 27 | Jesus is attached to him , but can hardly be said to confide in him . |
| 28 | Now this is an argument that is so intellectually contemptible that you can hardly be bothered to demolish it . |
| 29 | However , it is patently obvious that parents can be a good or bad influence and example for their children , and this fact can hardly be used to explain present patterns of crime . |
| 30 | It was claimed that the population of these desert ascetics was equal to that of the Nile towns , but religious fervour can hardly be trusted to have a head for figures . |