Example sentences of "[adv] he [vb past] been [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Perhaps because he spent so much of his time alone , he told me all about his wife , his two children , the home they had bought in Sanderstown , how long he had been married , where the children went to school — all the details of life in a town of about 60,000 people . |
| 2 | He wondered how long he had been silent . |
| 3 | If only he had been old and fat and balding … |
| 4 | He fantasized about all the ones he could have had if only he 'd been sure that a gnarled form in holey sweaters would n't join them at 1 a.m . |
| 5 | If only he 'd been able to finish off the plastic swan and the weeping-kid picture there 'd have been some hope for the flat . |
| 6 | But perhaps he had been tired , and what with hearing so much about the wretched Monument … |
| 7 | Perhaps he had been stupid , but had he actually done any damage ? |
| 8 | Perhaps he had been arrogant , and certainly he had been imperious . |
| 9 | Perhaps he had been bored , perhaps he simply had n't believed in the danger . |
| 10 | Perhaps he had been wrong ? |
| 11 | Perhaps he had been surprised to be greeted by an adult who did n't either admonish or cross-examine him . |
| 12 | So he had been churlish to Carol after all . |
| 13 | Where once he had been beautiful now he was hideous ; where once he had been mighty , now he was maimed . |
| 14 | Where once he had been beautiful now he was hideous ; where once he had been mighty , now he was maimed . |
| 15 | Where once he had been fair-spoken now his voice was horrible , forced out by ravaged lungs through a ruined throat . |
| 16 | He said later he had been unaware they were on the list of defaulters . |
| 17 | Formerly he had been prone to pessimism , full of gloomy prognoses about over-population and wars , which would prevent mankind from ever fulfilling its dream of colonising other planets . |
| 18 | The shadows had lengthened , he thought , so that probably he had been right and it was towards evening . |
| 19 | For some time now he had been certain that he had at last evolved a diction appropriate both to the requirements of classical epic and to the subtleties of the alchemical process . |
| 20 | So far he had been able to maintain a claim to even-handedness on the grounds that he treated both sides , Moslems and Copt , with equal severity . |
| 21 | He was often overcome with temptation when faced with such delights as chicken dumplings and ice-cream and treacle suet pudding , and so far he had been lucky . |
| 22 | So far he had been quiet , staring into the darkness , though keeping a careful eye on Sir John . |
| 23 | A few years ago he had been one of the best-paid dancers in Flamenco . |
| 24 | And ten years ago he had been hurt worst of all when the Zionist Air Force , the E-16s and the E-15s , had come to Tuwaithah out of the setting sun to put down 16 tons of explosive ordnance onto the Osirak reactor . |
| 25 | Latterly he had been involved in eel fishing and had been seeking a place to keep his eels alive and fresh . |
| 26 | He was buoyant today , but also edgy and more authoritative than I 'd seen him for ages , when mostly he 'd been gloomy and sulky . |
| 27 | Luckily he had been one of those we had briefed and he remembered the name . |
| 28 | Two days earlier he had been driving troop carriers at Kuchino , one of the KGB 's training centres outside Moscow , and now he 'd been asked to drive for General Benin no less . |
| 29 | Sometimes he had been able to fit the frames back and push in the lenses ; not this time . |
| 30 | Even then he 'd been pushy , determined to make it . |