Example sentences of "could [verb] be [noun] " in BNC.

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1 It would n't have mattered who , it could 've been family , friends , neighbourhood , anybody .
2 In the end , the best the miners ' union could achieve was redundancy payments averaging around $2,480 .
3 ‘ The least you could do is say thank you , ’ he taunted .
4 All she could do was raise her voice higher , the train was coming in now , and she screamed at the child , screamed at him Come on , Johnny , fucking come on .
5 She reported a general response as good as on the Arsenicum , went on holiday and had to come home from it because her period was again heavy and all she could do was lie down !
6 ‘ All I could do was lie on the bed ’ , she says , ‘ it made me feel very ill and because of that I felt slightly depressed .
7 All they could do was work from day to day , from performance to performance , and through the second week , Charles started to feel his confidence in the part building up again .
8 When Mr Crangle asked him how he was getting on , all he could do was smile .
9 All he could do was smile and wriggle his toes in delight .
10 He was also very good at playing the ball down the line , bending it to keep it in play — and take play up to near their corner flag cos all the defender could do was kick it out ( then Vinny steps up : - )
11 I kept on popping questions , he would n't answer , all he could do was look as if I had no right to ask .
12 Despite that reassurance , all she could do was toss and turn all night and run over in her head the insulting things Marc Alexander Vila had said to her .
13 All he could do was watch and report back .
14 All they could do was watch and wait , trigger off several fuses and watch them burn until one of them , hopefully , ran its full course .
15 Police made fifty arrests , mostly on drugs charges , but say that for most of the time , all they could do was watch .
16 By the time they arrived the party was in full swing and all they could do was watch .
17 ‘ All he could do was watch helplessly as the defendant , shouting incoherently , went towards Mr Robinson and began to attack him . ’
18 All I could do was watch television .
19 All she could do was stand there , a passive witness .
20 I wanted to run out and scream , but Mum had the key and all I could do was stand stock still , listening to the thumping of my heart .
21 Then defenceless , all we could do was fight the panic and slowly slip away .
22 The idea of God pursuing a whole family like a demented genealogist seemed grossly unfair , but as it was a commandment all I could do was hope that neither my father nor any of my immediate ancestors had done anything really sinful , and that if they had , God did n't know of my relationship .
23 All she could do was hope that Lisa 's sharp mind would fail to make the connection .
24 It was impossible to see where they 'd landed , so all she could do was hope .
25 All she could do was stare glumly at the sign hanging inside the door — CONFISERIE VASSOIR : Ouvert 9.30–18.30 Mardi à Samedi — then glance at her watch , which confirmed she was fifteen minutes too late .
26 She said something to me , a simple introduction , but all I could do was stare open-mouthed at her .
27 For a long moment all she could do was stare back at him , his dark fathomless eyes holding her in thrall .
28 ‘ All I could do was scream down the phone — God knows what the listeners made of it . ’
29 All I could do was dig it out .
30 All she could do was hide .
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