Example sentences of "was not [adv] a [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | But I had a very strict Mormon church upbringing and it was not exactly a taboo subject , but it was just taken for granted that you did n't do that until you got married . |
| 2 | Marguerite was not exactly a motherly woman , but she was in some way comfortable . |
| 3 | It was not exactly a novel sentiment , but from now on the dominant message from within the Tory ranks would be that the welfare state had weakened family ties , the increase of working mothers had produced ‘ a growing decline in parental responsibility ’ , and ‘ affluence ’ had undermined the nation 's moral fibre . |
| 4 | There was something in her face that was unfamiliar ; it was not exactly a different expression — more as if her eyes were not her own . |
| 5 | There is general agreement that Balder was not exactly a dynamic deity — indeed , he has been described as ‘ a passive suffering figure ’ . |
| 6 | She was not exactly a romantic figure . |
| 7 | What she really meant was that the child 's affections were being alienated ; this was not wholly a fair charge . |
| 8 | Such reformers usually saw themselves as making it possible for the Masai to survive as a race : getting obsessed with the Masai was not inherently a passive occupation . |
| 9 | Like getting wrapped up in the Masai , getting wrapped up in Indirect Rule was not inherently a passive occupation ; it seems in retrospect extraordinary that something to which so much energy was in fact devoted should ever have been perceived as a sign of imperial decrepitude . |
| 10 | The market signals proved totally wrong as Dead Certain drifted out ominously in the betting and Chimes Of Freedom was backed as if defeat was not even a remote possibility . |
| 11 | Sydney Smith had been wrong too ; it seemed that the country was not even a healthy grave ; though , judging from Edwin 's pusillanimous letter , Smith might have been in the right when he suggested that there were three sexes — men , women and clergymen ! |
| 12 | It may however be noted that the immunity against judicial interrogation is no longer as complete as it was , for the abolition by the Criminal Evidence Act 1898 of the rule that an accused was not even a competent witness at his own trial opened up the possibility that if he did give evidence he would expose himself to questioning by counsel for the prosecution and in appropriate circumstances by the judge himself ; and his privilege against self-incrimination whilst giving evidence was expressly removed by section 1 ( e ) of the Act of 1898 . |
| 13 | It was not even a close-run thing : not the least astounding feature of this remarkable game was the huge margin — 155 runs — of victory . |
| 14 | It was not even a large house , only tall , with long flights of steep stairs , and had two rooms on each of the four floors . |
| 15 | His Chief Staff Officer was not even a full member of the Chiefs of Staff Committee , the chairmanship of which was rotated between the three Service ‘ Chiefs ’ . |
| 16 | Interviewer Diane Sawyer asked her : ‘ But he was not just a financial adviser ? ’ |
| 17 | This was not just a polite brush-off , for Steel-Maitland was anxious to find a seat for Hewins ( who was a tariff reform professor of economics who would be a great asset in parliament ) and finally managed to do so . |
| 18 | The ‘ Nation of Israel ’ , as Jesus , James and their contemporaries conceived it , was not just a geographical entity . |
| 19 | And that experience that took place on that initial day that is the birthday of the church was not just a one off thing , but as others came into the church they experienced not another pentecost , but if you like , their own pentecost . |
| 20 | When the scandal broke the media too placed them there , confirming how odd and ungraspable it all was ; confirming , too , that this was not just a political morass , but cinema , and fun . |
| 21 | But she shared one crucial thing with the whole of that community , friends and enemies : awareness that the struggle was not just a Scottish matter , but something fought out on the international stage . |
| 22 | He wanted her to understand that the running was not just a pretty fancy , that he had been serious . |
| 23 | Graham was not just a kind elderly man , he was a passionate and knowledgeable gardener . |
| 24 | Turned out the girl was not just a devout Catholic who was only interested in improving her English but also the daughter of some big-shot industrialist with lots of connections at the Embassy … |
| 25 | In this respect Fforde believes that individualism was not just a particular strand of the Conservative tradition , but was the Conservative tradition , and that ‘ Tory Centrism , anti-capitalism , or paternalist interventionism ’ are ‘ phantoms of the historiographical imagination ’ . |
| 26 | The result showed that the curvature idea was not just a different way of looking at gravity from the old one , but a better way . |
| 27 | Nicola was not just a simpering and empty-headed blonde with a pleasant voice . |
| 28 | The point is that the monastic system was not just a spontaneous occurrence . |
| 29 | ICI , evidently , was not just a lacklustre chemicals conglomerate , but an industrial symbol , to be preserved at all costs as evidence of Britain 's continuing economic virility . |
| 30 | Another issue raised was that Europe was not just a commercial union but a global power bloc which would need to consider external relations outside Europe . |