Example sentences of "[conj] if [adv] [pron] [vb past] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | They live in the past , believing that if only they had had loving parents , or if only little sister had n't been born , or if only they had n't married so-and-so , then everything would be fine . |
| 2 | And because she wanted to know more , she wanted to find out all there was to find out about this dark , ancient stronghold that her ancestors had known , at times she stole out from her bedchamber after nightfall and stood listening to the night rustlings and the soft settling of the old , old timbers ( and the footsteps ? did n't she still hear the footsteps every night ? ) and thought that if only she knew the right words , or if only she had the power , she could summon the enchantments and lay bare the secrets and understand this place . |
| 3 | Six six contracts all the same print so that if ever we shifted you or wanted you wanted to shift you from estate into to golf or to schools we do n't have to retrain you at all . |
| 4 | I said I 'd remember that if ever I found him dangling upside down by one toe from a ski-lift cable . |
| 5 | McAllister knew that if once she stopped her ministrations she would never get up again , and her reply was as firm as she could make it . |
| 6 | They live in the past , believing that if only they had had loving parents , or if only little sister had n't been born , or if only they had n't married so-and-so , then everything would be fine . |
| 7 | Some readers , particularly those convinced that if only we thought long enough , or prayed hard enough , we would discover reassuring tethering posts to which to secure our moral choices , will view with some disquiet the position reached so far . |
| 8 | He went on for a long time — we had such energy , then , in our quarrels — and sank deeper and deeper into what was really absurdity , saying that it was all his fault , he had been a lousy husband , too absorbed in his job to notice I was bored and fretting because I was ‘ wasting my education ’ , and that if only I had been ‘ straight ’ with him , we could have done something to put this right . |
| 9 | Obscurely , she felt that if only she had known before things might have been different , but then common sense told her that yes , things might have been different : probably they would have been worse . |
| 10 | And because she wanted to know more , she wanted to find out all there was to find out about this dark , ancient stronghold that her ancestors had known , at times she stole out from her bedchamber after nightfall and stood listening to the night rustlings and the soft settling of the old , old timbers ( and the footsteps ? did n't she still hear the footsteps every night ? ) and thought that if only she knew the right words , or if only she had the power , she could summon the enchantments and lay bare the secrets and understand this place . |
| 11 | All his life , the fool thinks that if only he tried another woman , or holiday , or whatever , then this time he would really catch the mysterious something . |
| 12 | Licence Revoked was originally going to be the title for this last Bond film , and if only they had . |
| 13 | He rubs it absently , accosting strangers in the street , seeking out a friend and within minutes exclaiming that he wants to be by himself , watching children wistfully , accusing wellwishers of persecuting him with their kindness ; until at last he explodes on the brink of confession in a terrible universal cry : ‘ Oh , if only I were alone and nobody loved me , and if only I had never loved anyone ! ’ |
| 14 | A true ‘ fuck you ’ and if only he had fought . |
| 15 | And if only you knew how much I loved him and how much I wanted to marry him ! ’ |
| 16 | At one time he , he lived at , they lived at but er er she was a widow and she was ninety but she was very good to us and , but we had er , we had apartments but there was a lock on both sides of the door , you know what I mean , we were quite self-contained and we had er er a narrow stairs and because of the war I could n't , you could n't er , I used to scrub the stairs down because you could n't buy carpet in those days , you see because of the war and to the shortage of stuff and so I used to keep those stairs nice and , we had a , a , we went , as we went up these stairs erm it , I suppose originally , you see , it would have been back stairs for the servants , you see , in the hall and this old lady used to go in and if ever she had the doctor she used to ask me if I would go and sit with her and hold her hand while the doctor came , you see . |
| 17 | She had other daughters in the town but she always wanted me and if ever she wanted anything to do with her papers and books and financial things , she used to ask my husband to go in , you see the day after we got there she brought us a huge dish like that with mushrooms which er grew f er well there are houses built there now but er at that time they had a big meadow there sort of a copse er in it with a bunch of trees and you see and all these mushrooms grew , you see , and they were , you know , they 're nice you see . |
| 18 | He had a guilty liking for fat girls who laughed a lot and if ever he went off the rails … |
| 19 | ‘ But father did n't approve of the game , and if ever he came in when we were playing it , we 'd stop at once and pretend to be talking about something else . |
| 20 | He needed no Bible to remind him of the life of Christ , and if ever he felt the need for a symbol upon which to concentrate his devotions , he satisfied himself by making the sign of the cross with his fingers . |
| 21 | And if ever he got his hands upon Benedetta again , he 'd send her after . |
| 22 | And if ever I thought it , that was the time that I thought that Mother knew what she was singing about . |
| 23 | But if only one had had it — well , it could be utter disaster . |
| 24 | Hindsight is all very well , but if only he had sent his London package by regular mail … . |
| 25 | But if only he had n't told her . |
| 26 | But if only I had been right , if only it were just Kinnock , or for that matter a couple of remediable policies or the voting system , that were the problem . |
| 27 | But if so I felt that I had a chance of retrieving the situation , once I 'd made the Fraxillian delivery . |