Example sentences of "he [vb past] [verb] to be " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Every fish he got seemed to be a good 'un . |
| 2 | He 'd prayed to be released |
| 3 | Florrie Tremayne went on regardless : ‘ And poor old Alfred with his shop ; he 'd wanted to be a doctor , a GP , plodding along in some backwater for forty years , supported by a sufficient number of loyal patients who hung on his words and swallowed his medicines with no fuss . |
| 4 | Dozing on the plane he felt the smoothness of the assassin 's face in his fingertips , the tumble of hair he 'd taken to be Jude 's over the back of his hands . |
| 5 | The difficulty was , he 'd chosen to be charming so very , very often . |
| 6 | what he can say that he 'd go with her but he 'd had to be back , sort of , by four cos he 's going out with you he says that , that 'll get him out of it then wo n't he ? |
| 7 | ‘ I thought he 'd reformed to be a daddy . |
| 8 | His desire to be gone had been so strong — the desire for movement — that he 'd seemed to be leaning into the wind . |
| 9 | Howard is relieved and pleased that his younger self could pass such a test ; to have been in his own company for fifteen minutes or more , and to have been so opaque and convincing that he 'd seemed to be like anyone else . |
| 10 | He 'd learned to be very tidy when he was in prison . |
| 11 | He seemed born to be a professor . |
| 12 | But he seemed to want to be a man of mystery , want to bamboozle her . |
| 13 | He was burrowing into responsibilities , looking for them almost , for they gave substance to that which bound Emily to him — and still the shock of jealousy pulsed occasionally making him shudder so that he blushed to seem to be shivering . |
| 14 | Every step he took seemed to be resented by the stonework , which creaked and rumbled ominously about him . |
| 15 | Perhaps he did want to be in the team ? |
| 16 | But he did want to be asked . |
| 17 | But the other thing that worried me , he was inclined to be erm mind you I felt aggression in his sermon a little , but he did incline to be very uptight . |
| 18 | Well depending on the situation er you would ask him how he did came to be client . |
| 19 | Fleischmann discussed radiation with them , aware that if fusion was indeed happening in the cell there could be significant health risks although he did seem to be feeling all right . |
| 20 | Though perhaps in his blustery way he did try to be friends with them . |
| 21 | Vincent retorted that he did wish to be better than he was , and feared stagnation , but was ‘ even more afraid of remedies that are worse than the evil itself . ’ |
| 22 | What he glimpsed appeared to be a body covered with a blanket . |
| 23 | He had grown to be a mighty warrior , a great sorcerer and an excellent general . |
| 24 | Lately , however , he had begun to be curious about her — almost against his will . |
| 25 | She knew she had nothing to feel guilty about despite her attraction to Luke , having resisted him , but his relationship with Cavell was none of her business really , and whether Luke finally confessed that he had intended to be unfaithful or Cavell discovered it for herself , she did n't want to have to feel responsible for any eventual break-up . |
| 26 | Dalgliesh suspected that he had hoped to be a member . |
| 27 | He had wanted to be a Napoleon and special . |
| 28 | He had wanted to be a vet , but all his plans had come to nothing . |
| 29 | He had wanted to be alone while he wrote tomorrow 's vital speech to the Conservative conference . |
| 30 | He had wanted to be more noticed as a child . |