Example sentences of "he [modal v] [verb] be [adv] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | I suppose he ought to have been very practical , from that background , but nothing was further from the truth . |
| 2 | The lawyer may wish to eschew the elevation of efficiency if he thinks it is being pursued at the expense of other desirable goals such as fairness and equality of opportunity , goals which he may feel are more important than efficiency . |
| 3 | Out of his professional need , he will have settled on a good working strain over the years and any surplus he may have is virtually guaranteed to be first-class . |
| 4 | Donaldson would have had no option but to make arrangements for the delegation , even though he may have been well aware of what the reaction would be . |
| 5 | Hopkins , 54 , a reformed alcoholic , was desperately lonely at school and a poor student and he now thinks he may have been slightly dyslexic . |
| 6 | Charles the Cheesemonger was not averse to using the parish church to record the existence of his children , but on this occasion he may have been under more pressure than usual from the Anglican minister to arrange this triple baptism . |
| 7 | He may have been there all night . ’ |
| 8 | He may have been genuinely distressed by the pain he was causing me — something he later confessed he had deliberately provoked , with subtle sadism masquerading as friendly frankness . |
| 9 | It gave him everything and he may have been genuinely intending good . |
| 10 | Remembered as a son of the King Cenberht who had been a co-ruler of the western Saxons with Cenwealh before his death in the 660s ( see above , p. 49 ) , he may have been as much a victim of the impact of earlier Mercian expansion under Wulfhere as of internal strife . |
| 11 | The rain was pelting him relentlessly and he may have been as well to have had no clothes at all for all the protection his gave him . |
| 12 | ‘ He should have been here by now , ’ she announced . |
| 13 | Even if there had been three fatal accidents on the Piccadilly line in from Heathrow plus two mechanical failures beyond London Transport 's control , he should have been here by now . |
| 14 | He should have been less intimidating now he was seated , but she still felt uneasy , and she was annoyed with herself for showing any weakness , but she could n't help the quiver in her voice , the tears that pricked behind her eyes . |
| 15 | That seemed cruel beyond belief , he should have been there instead of Hodge . |
| 16 | This was like quarter to twelve , he should have been there at eleven o'clock . |
| 17 | He should have been as frozen as she was herself . |
| 18 | Questioned closely , Austin also reveals that he should have been directly involved in the 1948 Olympics at Wembley . |
| 19 | No wonder , then , that when he came to write up the experience in Surprised by Joy he should have been so insistent that his father 's last illness and death ‘ does not really come into the story I am telling ’ . |
| 20 | She knew that her husband would take no risks and yet he should have been home by now . |
| 21 | And that would be soon as ever he had his own son safely established back under this roof , where he should have been all along ! |
| 22 | An officer for nearly 40 years , he should have been more than a match for a 24-year-old civilian but the first brush between the two sides , though neither commander was present in person , suggested otherwise . |
| 23 | Vagueness was resorted to by the judge in Jenkins v Reid in order to explain why a reformulation of a clause was unacceptable and in Gledhow Autoparts Ltd v Delaney [ 1965 ] 1 WLR 1366 Dankwerts LJ criticised the phrase " districts in which the traveller had operated " as being too vague especially as instructions given as to where he should work were purely oral . |
| 24 | He must 've been dead eighteen years . |
| 25 | And when I came back , Bobby I gave Grant they and erm he must 've been pretty desperate because he did a wee wee before we left and he did a wee wee before |
| 26 | He must have been equally surprised to see her but he recovered first , and while Rachel was still floundering to find something to say and Julie was murmuring something about hoping he would enjoy working at OBEX he said , ‘ Actually , we 've met before . |
| 27 | If he was not involved , then he must have been incredibly naive . |
| 28 | As a Spaniard he must have been particularly interested in seeing the important series of Iberian reliefs from Osuna when they were put on show in the Louvre in the spring of 1906 . |
| 29 | ‘ He looks like he must have been pretty naughty , ’ she said , and handed the picture back to him . |
| 30 | ‘ He must have been pretty upset about the Wolvercote Jewel . ’ |