Example sentences of "could [not/n't] take [adj] [noun] " in BNC.

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1 The results speak for themselves : Labour lost rural seats and could not take key marginals .
2 Since their success depended upon their mobility , they could not take cumbersome engines with them ; instead , they developed military skills sometimes rather different from those employed by more conventional soldiers .
3 The law , the most draconian to have been passed by any mainland state , could not take immediate effect because it conflicted with the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision — the foundation of legalized abortion in the USA .
4 Though Dr Runcie and his party could not take Holy Communion at the papal mass , he had earlier celebrated the eucharist at the Anglican church in Rome after three demonstrators rose from the congregation as he ascended the pulpit ; the visit has been dogged by protests from supporters of the Rev Ian Paisley .
5 He could not take more time off .
6 Chief Inspector John Reeve , of Thames Valley police , said : ‘ We could not take any chances .
7 It would be hard to see how communication could take place if we could not take some sort of mutually shared knowledge for granted , if every discourse had to begin from scratch .
8 If you 're the sort of person who thinks that Parliamentary democracy is a reasonably important thing , you could n't take much pleasure from the findings of the enquiry into the way Rover was sold off .
9 It could n't take one cylinder of it
10 She had hesitated but he could n't take that hesitation as a refusal .
11 I actually advised him at the meeting that he should not and could n't take that motion , and I was by Alderman in that situation , but he still deemed to go ahead and that 's p his prerogative .
12 And erm it could n't take incoming calls or outgoing calls .
13 Anyhow I just could n't take another week like this again .
14 When she could n't take another step she turned and looked behind her .
15 She could n't take any man seriously — or at least not one she 'd yet met .
16 At that stage in my life I could n't take any kind of failure , and so this latter model of womanhood was as unacceptable to me as the former .
17 Her dramatic assertion may have been wish fulfilment , a hyperbolic statement expressing her real desires , but with such an unstable outlook we could n't take any chances : publication was brought forward to June .
18 Still , he could n't take any risks .
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