Example sentences of "[prep] [indef pn] [pron] could not " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Any amendment to the law that provides an aggravated penalty for someone who could not have foreseen that for which he is sentenced must be wrong . |
| 2 | For ‘ proposing to carry lemons with us to Sky [ sic ] that he might be sure to have his lemonade ’ , Johnson ticked off Boswell — on two counts : that he , Sam , did not wish to be viewed as someone who could not do without his preferences ; and that it was ‘ very bad manners to carry provisions to any man 's house , as if he could not entertain you . |
| 3 | Several times I was stopped in my tracks by the sight of something I could not identify . |
| 4 | It reminded Culley of something he could n't place . |
| 5 | Even so , as she followed the straight line of his back , seeing the way he moved smoothly and economically , the black hair carelessly swept back and curling at the nape of his neck , she felt a brief frisson of something she could not explain . |
| 6 | Upstairs , alone , feeling left out of something she could n't define , she looked through a pile of books left by his door . |
| 7 | She was heart-stoppingly aware of Niall watching her from the doorway , a glimmer of something she could n't fathom in his blue eyes . |
| 8 | I ca n't think of anything we could n't talk about — money , our jobs , our antipathy towards our enemies . |
| 9 | I 'd tell her everything — I ca n't think of anything I could n't share with her . |
| 10 | Hence the dark-haired girl who did not know him and who wandered Skye and Minginish at will , searching for something she could not recognise . |
| 11 | I listened with fascination to this insider viewpoint , and the moody Miss Brickell suddenly became a real person , not a pathetic collection of dry bones , but a mixed-up pulsating young woman full of strong urges and stronger guilts who 'd piled on too much pressure , loaded her need of penitence and her heavy desires and perhaps finally her pregnancy onto someone who could n't bear it all , and who 'd seen a violent way to escape her . |
| 12 | A long conversation followed with someone I could not see . |
| 13 | On the other hand , something — many things — went wrong to turn a team who used to win virtually every match into one who could not win any . |
| 14 | He 'd gone with one once , after a party , back to a flat with a friend of Dave 's , who 'd laughed at him and had eyes that made him feel he was being drawn into something he could n't stop , and when she shed her clothes and left them discarded on the floor he 'd stared , open-mouthed , aware of the noise inside his head , something to do with what he 'd drunk , he could still hear the music , and was aware too of the smell of some cologne that merged with hairspray and covered something that he did not want to know about , the dirt and dust of the room and the female odours that half-attracted and repelled him . |
| 15 | Corbett realised the dangers of what was happening , he was becoming obsessed with this matter as he did with anything he could not solve , rationalise , arrange in neat columns . |
| 16 | To her knowledge she had never led anyone into anything she could n't handle herself , but as he had pointed out before , she could n't always know what sort of reaction she was stirring in those who listened to her songs . |
| 17 | Nathan was talking to someone she could n't see . |
| 18 | It was more like the noise dogs make sometimes — a see-sawing musical phrase , as if it was talking to someone you could n't see . |
| 19 | I would really have tried , ’ she insisted to someone he could not see . |
| 20 | She let us stay with her for a week after Dada — ’ She paused , and again her hesitation appeared as if her mind were groping for an answer or a revelation to something she could n't understand ; then she said , ‘ After Dada … died . |
| 21 | The shadow on the step , the wind in his eye , the very fact that Fly was here when he never came into the city on weekdays : it all added up to something he could n't quite catch hold of . |
| 22 | And he volunteered to give a lift to anyone who could n't get to the annual general meeting in March . |
| 23 | How could Ma look like that at someone who could n't even speak English ? |
| 24 | Then he saw others , similarly bent , all working away at something he could n't make out . |
| 25 | He called her again and again , but she would not stop barking at something he could not see . |
| 26 | He could see the surprise , the awe , as they stopped , looking at something he could not see . |
| 27 | It must be carried by someone who could not be suspected . |
| 28 | But the exit was at the foot of the screen , and I was being borne up towards that great and drooling hag , away from safety , pinioned by someone I could n't see , and the witch was laughing . |
| 29 | It was a simple task made difficult by something she could n't name . |