Example sentences of "[noun] [conj] could [adv] have " in BNC.
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| 1 | Then , in that second of hushed silence before the screen and fanfare blaze out , there came from the middle of the auditorium a huge and shocked voice ‘ What the fookin''ell are yo ’ doin' ? ' , followed almost at once by two mighty smacks that could only have been someone being hit . |
| 2 | Pictures that could only have come from the Americans or the British , ’ Kragan answered warily . |
| 3 | The role of pension funds in this outflow is often taken as indicative for , since the mid-1960s , pension funds have become the main channel for employees ' long-term savings and their overseas investment is sometimes seen as a ‘ diversion ’ of savings that could otherwise have been used to finance productive investment in British industry . |
| 4 | Hence , much larger areas of double-glazing than could formerly have been contemplated , consistent with maintaining comfort , may now be built into external walls . |
| 5 | Some of his staff had urged that he abandon the Duchess 's ball , but such an act , he knew , would only have offered encouragement to the Emperor 's many supporters in Brussels and could even have prompted the wholesale desertion of Belgian troops . |
| 6 | He also knew that this disastrous episode was entirely his own fault and could easily have been avoided . |
| 7 | At a time when business is tottering , Landy 's enterprise sails close to the wind and could only have been mounted by a dealer whose new lease in Charlotte Street has secured his own operation . |
| 8 | Robina Fairfax 's mouth opened in a smile which revealed teeth that could only have been her own , so variously coloured and oddly shaped were they . |
| 9 | Quite apart from the fears this aroused on the left , the price of CEDA support was a return , especially in rural Spain , to the social situation of the monarchy — a course that could only have explosive consequences . |
| 10 | She tried to ease her hand out from under his but met with a resistance that could only have been overcome by struggling , and pride refused to let her do that . |
| 11 | The comparison between the canals and railways was most graphically drawn by Mr W.F. Martin of the Mountsorrel Granite Company , one of the companies that could conceivably have benefited much from an improved canal , when giving evidence to the Royal Commission of 1906 . |
| 12 | After that , there was a series of horrific , shaming cameos that could only have come from the unconscious . |
| 13 | ‘ She is only a little girl and could easily have been attacked while she was standing there alone . ’ |
| 14 | The CDs average about 55 minutes and could easily have permitted inclusion of all the Tangos recorded by Domingo or all the selections from Wunderlich 's Heliodor Viennese Song recital . |
| 15 | Everton , inspired throughout by Peter Beardsley , killed off the game by romping into a 3–0 lead in 38 minutes and could easily have doubled it . |
| 16 | There was a journalist , too — or maybe Antonio Francesca Pigafetta was a Venetian spy , since he came from Venice , was an acquaintance of the Doge and could well have been told to keep a wary eye on Spanish imperial ambitions in the East . |
| 17 | This case of pistols was the last and longest-surviving of the Collector 's many treasures from the Exhibition , and really , he thought , with the possible exception of the velocipede which had inspired the trace of fortifications , the only one to have been of any use ; most of the others , of course , were now immovably set in the dried mud ramparts and could only have been recovered with a pick . |
| 18 | What we may see as the first classical statue of a draped woman , corresponding to the naked male of the Kritian boy , is likewise from the Acropolis and could likewise have been set there just before or just after the interruptions of 480/79 . |
| 19 | The ‘ dig ’ carried out in 1984 brought to light what could have been the main centre of administration in Anglo-Saxon times and could well have been the site for the ancient ‘ Dic Ring ’ from which Dickering got its name . |
| 20 | Oxford remain marginal favourites but Cambridge have a slight weight advantage and could also have just enough extra pace to take charge . |
| 21 | The opposition thoughtfully provided a batting line-up of stroke-playing dashers , and bowlers that could easily have been selected at random from a passing Delhi omnibus . |
| 22 | However con descending contemporary apologists may be to archaic conceptions of divine intervention , it is almost impossible to exaggerate the extent to which belief in such intervention once permeated European societies , creating popular images of the disruption of nature that could hardly have been congenial to a critical science of nature . |
| 23 | A man who has a job that could possibly have brought him into contact with the victims , though I do n't think so myself . |
| 24 | It flew within two hundred feet of Gatwick 's South terminal buildings and could easily have hit other aircraft or vehicles . |
| 25 | In the middle of the trivia , the stuff that could easily have been 1930 or 1960 , there was information for the gleaning . |
| 26 | When she play-fought with Elie , Billy 's mongrel dog , Harriet actually pulled her punches when unleashing swipes with her paws that could easily have crushed the dog 's skull . |
| 27 | So John Emburey was handed the captaincy that could well have been his years earlier if he had not gone to South Africa in 1982 , thereby losing the Middlesex captaincy to Gatting after Mike Brearley retired . |
| 28 | The baby was only a sign and could only have been understood later in the light of the life of the person who was to be the Saviour of the world . |
| 29 | However , thanks partly to the arrival of the sound film , this small measure was to change the nature of the British film industry in ways that could hardly have been foreseen by the legislators , and enable it to ‘ project England ’ more effectively than it had ever done before . |
| 30 | The news that could well have wrecked forever Prince Charles ' hopes of one day becoming king was broken by the urbane Sir Robert Fellowes — the Queen 's Private Secretary — in a call to Downing Street . |