Example sentences of "can not have [been] [adj] " in BNC.
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| 1 | It can not have been easy for an ordinand or a curate to stand up to contemptuous persiflage about his religion from one of the ablest minds of the generation who happened to be his own brother . |
| 2 | It can not have been easy , all these years , and who am I to criticise , to look askance , I who have been lucky , who have only myself to please , whose time is free . |
| 3 | Despite having an income and for some years an indulgent father , the task of raising them can not have been easy . |
| 4 | It can not have been easy for his wife to have Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu as in-laws . ) |
| 5 | The subsequent erection of the monuments — for example , capping the uprights of Stonehenge — likewise can not have been easy . |
| 6 | It can not have been easy for either of them . |
| 7 | It can not have been easy for a man in his fifties to start afresh as an instrument-maker in London . |
| 8 | It can not have been easy , as at this time photography was beginning to have a profound impact upon this branch of the arts , being more fashionable , cheaper , and offering the promise of greater veracity . |
| 9 | During these weeks Prince Charles can not have been other than impressed by her handling of the press and by the public reaction to her . |
| 10 | When Willis came out , England were 197 ahead with 151 minutes and twenty overs left and there can not have been many who doubted West Indies would win , but with Willis lunging his left leg forward and Willey protecting him from the strike as much as possible , they began to put together a remarkable stand . |
| 11 | The play was financed ( see Syll. 1078 ) by the young politician Pericles , who can not have been indifferent to its pro-Themistoklean content . |
| 12 | I take it her death can not have been accidental ? ’ |
| 13 | If Chlothild waited from the 490s until 523 the feud can not have been uppermost in her mind . |
| 14 | This can not have been untypical — the late medieval Weald was far from being the empty desert so often described . |
| 15 | The wealth of other trades was on a much smaller scale , one that can not have been untypical of most provincial communities . |
| 16 | He can not have been unaware of the risk . |
| 17 | In fact , in cobbling together what turned out to be a crudely progressive scheme of taxation , government and parliament can not have been unaware that they were evolving a fiscal taxonomy which corresponded to the main divisions of society . |
| 18 | The interval between her leaving Edgcote and meeting Freemantle can not have been great , a matter of months at most , unless Leapor 's depression was vastly disproportionate to the space in which she describes it . |
| 19 | Such an expedition takes time to mount , and there can not have been much of a gap between the Egyptian failure and the decision ( ? 453/2 ) to return to Cyprus . |
| 20 | Gary Kemp 's portrayal of the homosexual psychopath Ronnie is utterly chilling ; we are not shown what he does in bed , but it can not have been much fun for his boyfriend . |
| 21 | Do n't forget , I have lived here three months , and although I know the family to be close-fisted there can not have been much more than that . ’ |
| 22 | It may be that other disaffected Anglian elements also gave assistance and it would be surprising if no help had been forthcoming from the men of Powys , who can not have been unaffected by Aethelfrith 's victory at Chester and the recent warfare between the northern Angles and the king of Gwynedd . |
| 23 | Yields of 1:1 can not have been normal — or we should be dealing with a sub-subsistence economy ! |
| 24 | It can not have been long , however , before the painting began to undergo a series of striking changes . |
| 25 | The links between politics and patronage can not have been beneficial to the efficiency of the customs service as a revenue-collecting agency , for all too often strong political interests could secure an important post for a man with little or no experience who was placed over the head of men far better qualified than himself , and presumably resentful of their own failure to secure advancement . |
| 26 | If it was merely voidable vis-à-vis the Hammonds , it can not have been void as against the building society . |
| 27 | A second example of the conservative failure to consider cultural context and to relate theological belief to knowledge which we possess , is the contention that the church has never ordained women and can not have been wrong . |
| 28 | There can not have been any English fans who had expected their team to win the series , but the manner in which they were just being steam-rollered seemly scarcely credible . |
| 29 | The loss of their lands was a blow not just to episcopal prestige and income but also to episcopal management and the pastoral care of a diocese ; it can not have been reassuring to any bishop to see how often temporalities were at the risk of malicious accusation or expedient suspicion . |
| 30 | It can not have been later than A.D. 36 , because Pilate , in that year , was recalled to Rome . |