Example sentences of "should [adv] have [been] [adj] " in BNC.

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1 They should perhaps have been higher on the agenda than appears to have been the case .
2 In the immediate aftermath of the tragedy , there was no reason why Connelly should not have been helpful or why Jones should have falsified an entry in his notebook . )
3 The Government should have made a statement on the way in which the police national computer operates ; it should not have been necessary for me or the National Council for Civil Liberties to prise information from them .
4 Had not the echo of my prayer been upon me still , I should not have been ready .
5 If I had had qualifications I should not have been able to use them legally , and I should have been too hoity-toity to take on the sort of me-nial , unregulated work available .
6 Had someone insisted he had seen me in Romorantin , or further afield , I should not have been able to confirm or deny the sighting .
7 Over such a period , as has already been apparent with Polaris , if we had only had three , we should not have been able to maintain that programme .
8 The wife and the bachelor in the above cases should have been entitled to insist that the confusion be cleared up by a published clarification , but they should not have been able to obtain an award of damages against a newspaper which was not at fault .
9 The whole of tonight 's entertainment looked to me unreal , something like a banqueting scene of an opera , and I should not have been surprised to find the capon under my knife to consist of cardboard and my ‘ goblet of sparkling wine ’ full of emptiness with a rim of cotton wool to represent the foam of the champagne that was not there .
10 When I asked what her name was , I should not have been surprised when she replied clearly : ‘ My name is Lydia . ’
11 It has been suggested that Penda 's political power was in eclipse at the time and that Eowa was the dominant ruler among the Mercians as a subject king of the northern Angles from the mid-630s until his death , possibly in Oswald 's army , in the battle at Maserfelth , but there is no reason why Penda and Eowa should not have been ruling jointly , with Eowa as king possibly of the northern Mercians and Penda as king of the southern .
12 His unhappiness should not have been any great surprise , as St John 's was known as a high Anglican school , elitist and exclusive .
13 It seems little short of incredible now that such a talent should not have been any source of income for half a century after she left art school , but heartening that the lack of any fiscal reward and only intermittent recognition from her peers made no impact on her creative energies .
14 He should not have been ashamed of his grandfather , of course , but his upbringing had been pitiful , constantly on the march from one to another of a whole series of ‘ uncles ’ — there were several between his father and the solicitor — so that he had nothing stable in his life at all .
15 She should still have been able to get a seat , but she should not have a carriage practically to herself .
16 But we 've just said that he should still have been able to work out that his space was curved , even though he could n't see it .
17 Selection bias should also have been low because of the high rate of follow up .
18 Besides creating the conditions for success as the examination approaches , the employer should also have been involved in the candidate 's preparation from the start of the training contract .
19 An impressive set of performances , then , though at a total playing time of less than 57 minutes it should surely have been possible to fit in another item .
20 Practically all these early recordings suffer from distortion and overloading of the voice , something not readily apparent on the original 78s and something Decca should surely have been able to correct even , if as I believe , they have n't kept the original masters ( shame on them ! )
21 I should n't have been content to be just a wife . ’
22 Macbeth should n't have been indecisive about the murder .
23 Perhaps his initial success should n't have been all that surprising for he comes of good rugby stock .
24 Morrissey was deeply upset by the ‘ Suffer Little Children ’ episode , but he should n't have been surprised .
25 I was so stunned you 'd managed to pull off such a coup — but I should n't have been surprised , remembering how you built up the company from nothing . ’
26 There were date palms in the middle ground and I should n't have been surprised to see a pyramid in the distance .
27 Defending solicitor Bob Booker told the court : ‘ If the grating which surrounds the washing area had been clear there should n't have been any problems .
28 Perhaps it was the way the horizon curved upwards on all sides , like a bowl , or the way gravity worked when there should n't have been any .
29 Rough Collie Rescue ( London and South East ) started an appeal , with £200 of their own money , named the ‘ Robbie Fund ’ to help Grace McNeil afford the court costs she should never have been liable for in the first place .
30 If no organic being excepting man had possessed any mental power , or if his powers had been of a wholly different nature from those of the lower animals then we should never have been able to convince ourselves that our high faculties had been gradually developed .
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