Example sentences of "should [not/n't] have [been] [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | 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 . ) |
| 2 | 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 . |
| 3 | Had not the echo of my prayer been upon me still , I should not have been ready . |
| 4 | 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 . |
| 5 | Had someone insisted he had seen me in Romorantin , or further afield , I should not have been able to confirm or deny the sighting . |
| 6 | 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 . |
| 7 | 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 . |
| 8 | 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 . |
| 9 | When I asked what her name was , I should not have been surprised when she replied clearly : ‘ My name is Lydia . ’ |
| 10 | 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 . |
| 11 | His unhappiness should not have been any great surprise , as St John 's was known as a high Anglican school , elitist and exclusive . |
| 12 | 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 . |
| 13 | 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 . |
| 14 | I should n't have been content to be just a wife . ’ |
| 15 | Macbeth should n't have been indecisive about the murder . |
| 16 | Perhaps his initial success should n't have been all that surprising for he comes of good rugby stock . |
| 17 | Morrissey was deeply upset by the ‘ Suffer Little Children ’ episode , but he should n't have been surprised . |
| 18 | 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 . ’ |
| 19 | There were date palms in the middle ground and I should n't have been surprised to see a pyramid in the distance . |
| 20 | 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 . |
| 21 | 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 . |