Example sentences of "if they were [prep] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Authors are not supposed to avenge themselves in their writings , but they do , and if they were to be prevented , there would be far fewer books . |
| 2 | The arrival of the mail helped , too : a mound of letters from the relatives who were , or , if they were to be given free accommodation , thought that they were , coming to Uncle Karl 's party . |
| 3 | There are people now in the Wag Club whose musical digestive systems would probably collapse if they were to be inadvertently fed a powerchord . |
| 4 | New Times has pondered whether there would be such vehement opposition about sending ‘ our boys ’ abroad again if they were to be sent to fight for Iraq . |
| 5 | If they were to be overthrown , the justification would have to be overwhelming . |
| 6 | Part of the difficulty with the image came from the noisy fears of the critics , especially those who insisted that comprehensive schools would , if they were to be as good as grammar schools , have to be huge . |
| 7 | Smaller fields , however , could be commercially developed onshore and fields as small as 50 Bcf might be an attractive proposition offshore , if they were to be developed as satellites to larger fields . |
| 8 | Even if they were to be separated , one would know that Susan was somewhere . |
| 9 | The numbers mentioned above are very small , but if they were to be multiplied hundreds and hundreds of times across the nation they would become enormous . |
| 10 | ‘ Do n't you ever touch me again ! ’ she yelled , rather inauspiciously if they were to be cast as lovers . |
| 11 | The belt tying the skirt on drew the bodice edges in round the breasts ( if they were to be exposed ) and presumably lent them some support from the sides and from below . |
| 12 | Most items produced in Europe paid practically no English duty if they were to be re-exported to the colonies , but a few , including iron and steel , were taxed at a rate which made continental products very expensive and thus gave English manufacturers a clear field in the colonial market . |
| 13 | Indeed those dependent upon casual labour had to live close to docks and factories if they were to be on hand for work as it became available . |
| 14 | Darwin 's view was that dreams prevented delirium by allowing trains of ideas to continue in the absence of sensory input — if they were to be suspended in sleep like the voluntary motions , ( which are exerted only by intervals during our waking hours ) an accumulation of sensorial power would follow ; and on our awakening a delirium would supervene , since these ideas caused by sensation would be produced with such energy , that we should mistake the trains of imagination for ideas excited by irritation ; as perpetually happens to people debilitated by fevers on their first wakening ; for in these fevers with debility the general quantity of irritation being diminished , that of sensation is increased . |
| 15 | They do not speak about electrons and their states of motion as if they were to be taken less seriously than , say , billiard balls or elephants . |
| 16 | But even if they were to be drawn up from scratch with the express aim of reducing the level of severity in sentencing , there would still be a danger that discretion might simply be displaced to an earlier point in the system , such as the prosecutorial decision . |
| 17 | Lord Meston submits that the relevant facts of that case are remarkably comparable to the facts of this case , for the mother 's assertion that there would be a grave risk of an intolerable situation for the child largely depends upon the financial circumstances in which she and the child would be placed if they were to be returned to Canada . |
| 18 | There was probably no ( easy ) alternative to the use of temporary workers ; and if they were to be employed , at least such workers should otherwise have the same rights as regular workers . |
| 19 | Years before , Lord Camden had insisted that the principles of the law of nature must be incorporated in the British Constitution if they were to be observed , and that they actually were so incorporated . |
| 20 | There was no consensus amongst the Serbs as to the form of government they wanted if they were to be able to force recognition of Serbian autonomy from the sultan . |
| 21 | But feminists rapidly became aware that the state itself was patriarchal and needed profound transformation if they were to be fully represented in the nation 's political and moral life . |
| 22 | If they were to be paid this sum the doctor should in return guarantee to keep the premises open at certain convenient hours . |
| 23 | Cattle required good quality pasture and plentiful hay if they were to be kept over the winter , which they generally were . |
| 24 | Certainly , if they were to be believed , Burleigh was a positive hot-house of delicate blossoms . |
| 25 | Other examples from his list of claimed sense-qualifiers turn out to belong , instead , to a class of peculiarly restrictive adjectives which we discuss elsewhere ( Chapter 7 and also Ferris , in preparation ) : ( 31 ) their main faults our prime suspect he was named first citizen These adjectives , unlike most , are inherently restrictive , and select the particular entity to be identified by a speaker out of an already assumed body of entities ; thus the faults in the first example are not main faults in any general sense , as would be required if they were to be sense-qualifiers ; they are those that come out in front , relative to the background group of all their faults , relevant on the particular occasion where the expression is used . |
| 26 | ‘ Specialists ’ might have to enjoy even better conditions of life under socialism than they had under capitalism if they were to be well motivated . |
| 27 | For the simple reason that , if they were to be considered as arbitrators , there would be at least a danger that one party or the other might be able to require a case to be stated before a court of law , by which means it could be suggested that the award was not binding because of some error in it . |
| 28 | ‘ We would have more respect , certainly for the politicians , if they were to be positive , imaginative and constructive instead of carping and negative in their approach . ’ |
| 29 | What it would mean is that we would consider it immoral to treat animals as if they had no intrinsic value , as if they were of instrumental value only , merely means to human ends . |
| 30 | If they were of a kindly nature they stayed that way , if they were narrow , tactless , or big-headed they stayed that way . |