Example sentences of "could [adv] have be [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | If she could only have been sure … |
| 2 | As will be seen in Chapter 7 , this itself could only have been due to current Roman catholic social teaching on mixed marriage . |
| 3 | He points to a single red blossom that quivers on a nearly invisible thread attached to a garland of synthetic butterflies and rhinestone-dotted flowers — a bizarre piece of headgear so tacky it could only have been custom-made . |
| 4 | It could just have been bad luck . ’ |
| 5 | Not only was it the first death , but it could easily have been little Enoch , or Jane . |
| 6 | In the event it was Alaska which became the 49th State of the Union ( in 1959 ) but it could easily have been Coca-Colonial Britain . |
| 7 | As his reputation went before him like a brass band in front of a carnival , from the age of twenty no woman he met could possibly have been unaware of it . |
| 8 | What could possibly have been wrong with the books ? |
| 9 | Some of the scenes in the film of people at play are almost comical now because of their seriousness , though harsh lights and cameras could hardly have been conducive to a relaxed atmosphere . |
| 10 | However con descending contemporary apologists may be to archaic conceptions of divine intervention , it is almost impossible to exaggerate the extent to which belief in such intervention once permeated European societies , creating popular images of the disruption of nature that could hardly have been congenial to a critical science of nature . |
| 11 | He could hardly have been welcome , because when he had entered the senior police officer 's room it had been with two aides trying to keep him out by every manoeuvre other than manhandling him . |
| 12 | Three years ago , Slater said , ‘ I predicted that there would be no more major RISC announcements , and then came Alpha — I could still have been right . ’ |
| 13 | ‘ It is difficult ’ , the study concludes , ‘ to see how such an ill-conceived , ill-equipped , under-funded project could ever have been successful , ’ Of KME , it recalls that , in the face of advice that a proposal which made job-preservation the paramount consideration was likely to fail , Mr Benn decided to advance £3.9 million by way of assistance provided under Section 7 of the 1972 Industry Act . |
| 14 | When the negotiations began at Dalat it was Giap who assumed the principal role on the Vietnamese side and while , as communists , they might have accepted a smaller but communist state that could conceivably have been free of the French , it was as nationalists that the Vietminh argued their case for indissoluble national unity . |
| 15 | Labour shortage could also have been relieved by longer hours of work . |
| 16 | In fact , if he were n't so loyal to Dalgety and allowed himself to be poached , he could probably have been champion several times over . ’ |
| 17 | This time spent together , and the opportunity to give Anna her undivided attention , could well have been decisive . |
| 18 | The omission is meaningless : I could well have been delighted , although I ca n't remember whether I had actually begun to think consciously about weight in terms of stones and pounds at this time . |
| 19 | The inflicting of the wound on the head and the snapping of the vertebra could well have been simultaneous . |
| 20 | In fact , with any number of other writers , the circumstances of the appointment could well have been self-appraised as , ‘ Oh no , not more work . ’ |
| 21 | ‘ Yolande could well have been terrified of Alexander , or , ’ she added , ‘ Yolande may have been a lover of other women . |
| 22 | ‘ We have lost a significant amount of information that could well have been valuable if money had become available in future to carry out further digs along the shore . |
| 23 | Also engineers are singled out here as the culprits when it could well have been social ( and technically incompetent ) scientists ! |
| 24 | This could well have been true in the past too : we do not know . |
| 25 | Most of them were senior members of the Institute and Hall could well have been surprised to find himself confronted with a group of men bound together by a considerable degree of common purpose and understanding . |
| 26 | Such an interruption of the Kentish regnal succession may reflect disturbed conditions attendant on Wulfhere 's annexation of Surrey for Wulfhere , the uncle of Eadric and Wihtred , could well have been hostile to Hlothhere 's succession in Kent . |
| 27 | In the early stages we started off with perhaps Minor schools which could almost have been Major ones , because you were just trying to find any school that had got some kind of life , or interest , or things happening … really in many ways it was rather a matter of chance because of the way it happened at the time . |
| 28 | Steeped in ancient pomp and splendour , but loaded with post-modern wit and allusion , this semi-mystical edifice could almost have been purpose-built for an Orb photo shoot . |
| 29 | Without the work they did , I could never have been Prime Minister , others could never have been cabinet ministers , nor would we have as many women members of parliament as we have today . |
| 30 | Arsenical copper could never have been easy to make or work with ; during smelting , clouds of poisonous arsenious oxide are produced and in re-melting the alloy some of the arsenic may be lost . |