Example sentences of "hardly be [verb] [prep] [art] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | The policing of CND rallies and the miners ' strike could hardly be said from the Government 's point of view to have failed , and certainly the police did not suffer for want of legal powers . |
| 2 | To a creamy sauce for white fish such as John Dory , brill and sole , to dishes of molluscs such as mussels and scallops , its concentrated , pungent-sweet and aromatic qualities give a lift such as could hardly be achieved with a mountain of fennel stalks or seeds used in the preparation of the initial stock ( anise is a close relation of fennel , caraway and dill ) , and this in turn gives one ideas as to the use of many other liqueurs , aromatic vermouths , country wines , even drinks such as Pernod and Pastis in the cooking of fish and white meat and poultry dishes . |
| 3 | A cynical observer might argue that the assembly of a £5 million bid might easily be described as ‘ something being done ’ , and the failure of the attempt can hardly be viewed as a positive step , even if the debate on the estate 's future is now reopened . |
| 4 | Yet the tradition of the Germanic tribes was that judgement should be pronounced by the whole body of freemen , by all the ‘ suitors ’ , all those who had the right and duty of regular attendance at the court ; and the jurisdiction of the old royal and popular courts was cut across here , there and everywhere by the numerous feudal courts erected in increasing numbers on the basis of royal grant or mere usurpation from the ninth century onwards , and in the eleventh and twelfth by the appearance of borough courts and town courts of various kinds and courts which merchants set up to handle their own problems , which could hardly be handled by the warrior president or the yokel suitors of a popular court . |
| 5 | It is not necessary to go to the lengths of the British Airways new Four Corners shops , where the travel element can hardly be distinguished through an Ali Baba 's cave of irrelevant merchandise , but only to set up efficient systems run by people who know what they 're talking about and who can make time to understand what their travellers want , like Trailfinders with their honest bucket-shop approach , or the STA chain with its expertise in student travel . |
| 6 | Perhaps the whole case was breaking down , to the disappointment of the advocates , who , after all , could hardly be distinguished from the prosecution on both sides . |
| 7 | These ‘ activities ’ are not temporary ( more 's the pity ) but they can hardly be equated with the professor 's letter typing , which is a periodic state of affairs and will not last . |
| 8 | The tunnel cuts through a saddle into the valley of the Stinchar river , so on a calm morning even a heavy train on the bank could hardly be heard from the Pinmore side of the tunnel . |
| 9 | Several of the changes Mr Major announced will not come in until next year , and their effects will hardly be noticed for a while after that . |
| 10 | There is a mystery in many percussion sounds which can hardly be matched by the whole orchestra . |
| 11 | The city had raised troops to fight for the Government , and the British army , a great continental power , could hardly be bested by a ragged colonial army and a handful of farmers and fur-trappers ! |
| 12 | But 1927 is only some thirty years away from the beginnings of the mass circulation press in Britain and so can hardly be justified as a bench mark . |
| 13 | It may be that the ban will in due course be struck down , or at least restricted in its scope by the European Court : a total prohibition on television and radio appearances by representatives of a lawful political organisation , for example where they are elected local councillors speaking about domestic issues , can hardly be justified on the grounds of national security or the prevention of public disorder . |
| 14 | Furthermore , since the board is dominated by the most senior representatives of management ( this term will be used , except where the context requires otherwise , to refer to the executive directors and senior managers ) it can hardly be regarded as a body providing independent supervision of management on the shareholders ' behalf . |
| 15 | Therefore , this could hardly be regarded as a binding precedent . |
| 16 | Polybius again went a step further by passing over in silence the Roman Bacchanalia which chronologically and typologically can hardly be separated from the new popularity of Dionysus in Egypt about 210 B.C. He was also silent about the religious crisis in Rome during the second Punic War : we do not hear from him about the human sacrifices of that time . |
| 17 | She 'd wrapped him up so well against the weather that he could hardly be seen in the middle of all his clothing . |
| 18 | The ethic of abstinence and effort could hardly be applied to the success of the American millionaires of the 1860s and 1870s , or even to the wealthy manufacturer , retired to a life of country-house leisure , still less to his rentier relatives ; to those whose ideal was , in Ruskin 's words : |
| 19 | Although the Stack Light Rifle or SLR combines the looks of a gun with part of the optical system of a camera it can hardly be rated as a precision piece of equipment . |
| 20 | Mrs Grandison followed her apprehensively into one of those ubiquitous tea-shops which cater for the multitudes of office workers and others who want a cheap meal at any time of the day , and which , excellent though they are , can hardly be compared with the restaurants Mrs Grandison had been hoping to lunch in . |
| 21 | We should keep thinking about this … the politics of the situation can hardly be ignored as the personal is the political , especially for women in Scotland . |
| 22 | Moreover , the Leicester mosaics themselves can hardly be construed as the work of exactly the same group of craftsmen , because the St. Nicholas Street mosaic appears to include work of a standard below that of any in the Blackfriars mosaic ( see section 4.4 ) . |
| 23 | Though his words could hardly be construed as an apology , and nothing had been resolved , Luce was so incandescent with happiness that she thought sleep would be impossible . |
| 24 | Robert Malcolmson 's pioneering researches have placed eigh-teenth-century recreations sociologically with a thoroughness and insight which can hardly be equalled in a general textbook . |
| 25 | For example , even if the essence of democracy is taken to be the process of choosing between elites competing to govern , the very business of choosing can hardly be confined to the visit to the polling booth . |
| 26 | Brian Leith 's The Descent of Darwin : A Handbook of Doubts About Darwin can hardly be recommended in the same terms . |
| 27 | It will be evident that these united designs compete under considerable disadvantage with the single designs , and that unless a united design should be superior in both departments to all its single competitors , it could not receive a prize because one portion of it could hardly be executed without the other . |
| 28 | Ma Bell can hardly be described as a raider set on rape and pillage . |
| 29 | If he could hardly be described as a democrat , he certainly helped establish the parliamentary control and party politics which paved the way for democracy . |
| 30 | Finland virtually makes permanent immigration impossible , but until the collapse of the USSR it could hardly be described as a clear and present danger . |