Example sentences of "could [not/n't] [vb infin] [adv] [conj] " in BNC.
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| 1 | Yet half the names could not leave even if they wanted to : they are locked into the 58 ( out of a total of 401 ) Lloyd 's syndicates that have been unable to close one or more of their past annual accounts , so unquantifiable are the liabilities stacking up against them . |
| 2 | Despite some progress in the negotiations on deploying UN troops , including Croatia 's acceptance of their being stationed in areas of current conflict in the republic , Vance reported to the UN that deployment could not go ahead until a ceasefire was observed . |
| 3 | On 28 June the Bank decided that the restructuring could not go ahead and that BCCI would have to be shut down . |
| 4 | But , where the clause did not contain that useful provision , an awkward party ran no risk in simply refusing to appoint a valuer , with the result that the reference could not go ahead and there was no way of obtaining a valuation . |
| 5 | Mr Connelly , of Chantry Green , Ipswich , was told the operation could not go ahead because the five intensive care beds were already full . |
| 6 | The CDU would not let economic planning be taken as far as the SPD favoured , farmers protested against cuts in agricultural subsidies and defence cuts could not go far because of fears of weakening NATO . |
| 7 | Second , Syracuse operated an incentive system whereby crews which finished early could not go home until all the crews had finished ; consequently , those which finished early had an incentive to help the others . |
| 8 | The wench could not talk thus if she had not been her master 's bedfellow . |
| 9 | However , the research assistant responsible for organizing fieldwork in the two outer-city community studies ( John Harris ) is an Ulsterman , and therefore , although in no sense associated with any of Ulster 's political pressure groups , was very conscious that there were parts of the city which he could not visit freely and confidently . |
| 10 | Theoretically , the Council should have been a cross-section of the people socially ( as we have seen it was geographically ) : its members were appointed by lot , they served only for a year at a time , so that the Councillors should not have felt themselves to be a cohesive hereditary body like the old Areopagus or the ( semi-hereditary ) Roman Senate , and they could not serve more than twice in their lives . |
| 11 | Melanie tried to grasp how dreadful it would be if Finn were dead but she could not think coherently because of the terrible sound of Aunt Margaret 's silence . |
| 12 | One could not doze easily as one had done in Matt Stukely 's day for there was something too insistently personal in this new parson 's efforts to reach them ; yet they had remained stolidly unreached till now when the fervour of his exhortation spoke to them as with an angel 's tongue . |
| 13 | He said : ‘ It seems to me that business could not function properly if such information could not be kept confidential . ’ |
| 14 | I pushed him round that time as a baby of three that could not walk properly or talk clearly and had never sung . |
| 15 | But he could not sit patiently and wait for the next train , in an hour 's time . |
| 16 | If Anselm with so many claims to respect could not do better than this , there could be no hope except in forgery : this was to be the next step . |
| 17 | In Britain you could not do better than to pick out from the varied products of the author John Wainwright , an ex-policeman , those of his books that are in the police procedural mode . |
| 18 | However , they could not do so unless their account was settled in full . |
| 19 | It refused as it knew that it could not do so and survive at home . |
| 20 | That said , we have seen so many people in recent months who wanted to move but could not do so until they knew what was going to happen to their take-home income . ’ |
| 21 | Lothar having tried for three days to do the dividing , said he " could not do so because of his ignorance of the places involved " and so finally left that task to his father . |
| 22 | ‘ The directors could not do worse if they tried , ’ commented Fernando Calazans , a leading newspaper columnist . |
| 23 | But he could not stay here and wait to be captured . |
| 24 | Surely this could not explain more than two decades of political stability . |
| 25 | No-one was available from the Wales CBI for comment but Meirion Lewis , Welsh spokesman for the Institute of Directors , said he was surprised at the findings of the study , but could not comment further until he had seen it . |
| 26 | That could not happen now because of the so-called safe havens . |
| 27 | Added sugar was the prime cause and levels of tooth decay , which had fallen from bad to mediocre , could not fall further until people , and especially children , cut back more on sugar , he said . |
| 28 | Tallis could not see clearly but he seemed to be pushing something on to the staff , working it round until , with a crack , it slid into position . |
| 29 | The wind was behind her now , blowing her hair forward , so that she could not see properly unless she pushed it to one side . |
| 30 | Ramsey felt it odd that in two Christian churches , working side by side in a crowded port , the ministers could not pray together or work together and could hardly speak together . |