Example sentences of "[modal v] be [was/were] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | What she should be were it not for the constant muscular spasming and the recurrent confusion of her senses . |
| 2 | But what its content should be was left at first to the experts . |
| 3 | Where the wall should be was a space , a mist , a foggy drop into infinity … |
| 4 | The earlier version of English at Nottingham as " elegant dabbling in belles-lettres " stiffened by Anglo Saxon and philology , now made way for a more Leavisian model : " My conception of what a School of English should be was considerably clarified by my reading of Dr. Leavis " notable essay entitled " A Sketch for an English School " in his Education and the University . " |
| 5 | Quite what that image should be was , in 1990 , undecided . |
| 6 | What disturbances there had been or might be were or would be caused entirely by ‘ a body of persons opposed to the religious views of … the Salvation Army ’ . |
| 7 | There had to be agencies and clinics that were competent to deal with drug abuse , while the best I could be was an enthusiastic amateur , and that was rarely good enough . |
| 8 | I also spoke of my difficulty in giving talks to the armed forces ; for nothing remotely intellectual was acceptable , and the only use which I felt I could be was in taking along a few maps and indicating the whereabouts of places increasingly mentioned on the wireless or the press ( though they read only the ‘ picture ’ papers ) . |
| 9 | They 're asking what the noise could be who it could be were the guards coming for them ? |
| 10 | It was generally assumed that they would probably prove to be complementary to each other , but what the optimum mix would be was far from clear . |
| 11 | All I would be was a punchbag for his escaping fury , the entity he saw as a new unbearable threat to his dominance in Tremayne 's stable ; the interloper , usurper , legitimate target . |
| 12 | The possessed woman , like her bewitched counterpart , becomes the immediate centre of attention and care , and although she exerts pressure upon her spouse the latter is not assailed as radically as he would be were he accused of being a witch . |
| 13 | It will be were n't it ? |