Example sentences of "could [not/n't] [verb] [prep] " in BNC.
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| 1 | The school , of course , had existed for some years now , ever since the Factory Act which her father could not mention without turning purple , had thought it advisable for factory children to be given some education , feeling that an hour or two a week per child , perhaps , of reading , writing and arithmetic , would not go amiss . |
| 2 | Something you could not mention before the men , perhaps ? ’ |
| 3 | At the end of a taxing day on Twistleton Scar in Yorkshire , I could not leave before crowning the day with an ascent of the notoriously polished Candle Crack — only to skid like a bemused Bambi on ice and slither to the rocky moorland beneath . |
| 4 | The Soviet military responded to the demand by noting that troops could not leave before the completion of Soviet forces ' withdrawal from Eastern Europe , partly because of the difficulties involved in rehousing troops . |
| 5 | Of course , having accepted your paper on the Noh , I could not refrain from publishing it . |
| 6 | No doubt can exist of his Anglophilia , yet he now says that when he heard McQueen tell the story of the ‘ 45 , ‘ I could not refrain from tears , ’ and qualifies his response by discussing a set of feelings not a million miles from sentimentality ; ‘ The very Highland names , or the sound of a bagpipe , will stir my blood , and fill me with a mixture of melancholy and respect for courage ; with pity for an unfortunate and superstitious regard for antiquity , and thoughtless inclination for war ; in short , with a crowd of sensations with which sober rationality has nothing to do . ’ |
| 7 | The CNAA , he explained , would take pressure off the University of London , and if other universities were not prepared to enter the field of external degrees ‘ they could not complain at the creation of the new body ’ . |
| 8 | But he could not complain of the unsuitability of the friendship between his wife and Isobel , and at times it was extremely useful . |
| 9 | It was held that a normal examination would have involved looking inside and that they could not complain of defects in the glue which an inspection inside would have revealed . |
| 10 | Mr Edmonds said all companies would have to pay the same base rate so they could not complain of unfair competition . |
| 11 | However , in Coote v Eastern Gas Board , Byrne , J. decided that regard must be had to the nature of the industry in question , thus the plaintiff , a gas worker , could not complain about the ‘ usual ’ smell of gas . |
| 12 | A person who agreed to participate in a discussion programme in order to refute allegations could not complain about their public repetition , unless they included matters which the interviewee had specifically refused to discuss before the programme was recorded . |
| 13 | For example , as Duncanson points out , in the public services there was the principle that natives could not aspire to higher posts whatever their technical qualifications . |
| 14 | She found that though she could not speak up herself , she understood snatches . |
| 15 | He gagged on the sourness so that he could not speak into the telephone . |
| 16 | In reply , Sir Derek said that though he could not speak for other directors , ‘ my resignation has been available to the board from the day all this started . |
| 17 | But Rab could not speak for laughing . |
| 18 | Cynthia could not speak for the sobs that now came from her throat . |
| 19 | I could not speak to anyone , but when the bridge players saw me they threw down their cards and jumped up from the table . |
| 20 | For the next four years a great part of my time was spent in secret meditation upon this subject , I could not speak to anybody about it for fear of giving pain . |
| 21 | This homunculus could not speak to him . |
| 22 | Each contributed much , but they did not often speak to each other , and indeed almost literally could not speak to each other . |
| 23 | She tells him about her father — about how he stood on the cliffs in a flapping raincoat when she was a child and sang the whole of ‘ O Thou that tellest Good Tidings to Zion ’ over the roar of the wind and surf , and about how later she could not speak to him without irritation in spite of her love for him . |
| 24 | He could not speak to them , though his mouth tried to . |
| 25 | The church was very full and although Amabel could not speak to everyone on her progress to the front pew she paused before taking her seat and smiled sweetly , generally , at the congregation , hoping that no one would feel left out . |
| 26 | Yeah I was really attracted to him but I just could not speak to him , it was awful , and like there used to be awful pauses and you 'd just go er right we 'd better get off with each other again because you ca n't bear the silence , it 's too uncomfortable so you used to , and then you go oh shit better get off with him again , it 's awful , he 's and he used to have such a , no personality at all . |
| 27 | One could not speak of trenches ; they no longer existed . |
| 28 | But they had stopped his mouth , and he could not speak in his own defence . |
| 29 | One farmer was livid that he could not go into his local National Park and chop wood for his barbecue . |
| 30 | She could not cope with lifts , and she could not go into the garden shed in case the door closed upon her . |