Example sentences of "could [vb infin] [be] [noun sg] " 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 . |