Example sentences of "could [not/n't] [verb] been " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Could not 'ave been more seamier . |
| 2 | But I do not mean to suggest either , he wrote , that it was all waiting and no doing , all sitting and no action , for though it was impossible to tell when the beginning would come , indeed , he wrote , there could not have been a real beginning if it had been possible to tell , for if it had been possible to tell that would have meant that there had already been a beginning , no , wrote Harsnet ( typed Goldberg ) , occasionally things were done , work was begun , though it was soon abandoned , it added up to nothing , it only showed me that I had been mistaken in thinking that I had indeed started . |
| 3 | Thomas 's contribution could not have been more timely , Tommy Tynan having equalised an own goal by David Byrne . |
| 4 | I can not remember a single one where the risks which gave rise to the accident could not have been measured and prevented with effective safety training , management commitment and — above all - sufficient funds . |
| 5 | But it was still very difficult , because every day I was in London I was moving from one business to the other and they could not have been more different in character . |
| 6 | ‘ I am dependent on people with whom I have been associated in the past inviting me and I must say they could not have been more gracious . ’ |
| 7 | You could not have been better . |
| 8 | Its design team , led by Renault 's gushing and charming design director Patrick le Quement , could not have been better pleased . |
| 9 | ‘ Miss Fanshawe , this girl clearly could not have been a friend or neighbour at Eastover whom your parents were simply driving to London . |
| 10 | It could not have been more exciting news and everyone was thrilled , but her small and newly gathered staff took a deep breath . |
| 11 | But William was a much loved and much longed-for baby , and the Prince and Princess could not have been happier . |
| 12 | It was a triumph of modern science , and the new patron could not have been more impressed — although being seven months pregnant herself she was a little bit squeamish at the sight of the giant ten-inch needles used in the procedure . |
| 13 | The directive was aimed at Sinn Fein and the UDA but it could not have been the legislators ' intention that the broadcasting authority should be impartial between the terrorists and the terrorised . |
| 14 | His natural musical imagination silenced any lingering doubts , and when it came to music expressly written for the instrument — a brilliant showpiece sonata by the American , Paul Creston ; a new work commissioned from the young Irishman , Kevin O'Connell ; and Dave Heath 's vigorous fantasy , Rumania — McChrystal could not have been more persuasive , brilliantly supported by his accompanist , Kathryn Lenahan . |
| 15 | Former Mossad colleagues have insisted hotly that Harari could not have been involved in the drugs trade , but he is clearly a hard man to defend . |
| 16 | As it turned out , his timing could not have been worse . |
| 17 | And Mr Major himself could not have been more emollient . |
| 18 | One could not have been avoided : the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert . |
| 19 | The objection is that much of what we know could not have been learnt on the basis of experience . |
| 20 | It is clear that a payment made by him for goods bought is binding , though payment could not have been enforced against him . |
| 21 | The political ground could not have been better for a new middle party and many , including myself , thought that they could well achieve the breakthrough they sought . |
| 22 | Surely there could not have been a more destructive fire than Calvary ; but more was to come . |
| 23 | She could not have been very old when I first knew her , but I thought of her as old , partly because her hair was pure white . |
| 24 | If the auguries for Branwell Bronte were , at best , uncertain , the same could not have been said of the last leave-taking of one of his father 's predecessors at Haworth , the Rev. William Grimshaw ( 1508–63 ) , of whom John Wesley wrote : |
| 25 | Secondly , the reformed monasteries of the tenth century were of necessity largely aristocratic in composition , and had they been perceived to have no function in aristocratic society , they could not have been as successful as they were . |
| 26 | There was lack of comprehension at how it could have happened and why the 63th Army could not have been relieved , and little consolation for bereaved relatives in the official interpretation of ‘ heroic sacrifice ’ . |
| 27 | They could not have been less trouble , leaving the house at ten in the morning and not returning until nine in the evening , having already dined . |
| 28 | She felt excluded from their world even though she could not have been better informed ; the trouble was Ferdinando still belonged to that world . |
| 29 | ‘ Oh no , ma'am , I could not have been plainer as to everything . ’ |
| 30 | In summing up we may say : something has been made visible which could not have been perceived without the effort to make it visible . |