Example sentences of "but [prep] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | This would have plummeted to single figures but for the influx of wealthy Iraqi ‘ refugee holidaymakers ’ now fleeing Saddam Hussein 's regime . |
| 2 | During my early career , for instance , when one of the shift was caught and sentenced for a string of burglaries , the others skirted around their implicit knowledge that ‘ there but for the grace of God goes everyone ’ , and comforted themselves by recalling ( with the aid of the hindsight-ometer ) that he had ‘ never been a real polis … always been a bit of a loner , something of an outsider … ’ |
| 3 | It is a heavy serviceable machine and I am not really knocking Wilson because in another situation it would probably do a very good job but for us it is just not a very pleasant tool to be with . |
| 4 | With infinite delicacy forget-me-nots and rosebuds , croci and oak leaves are chiselled out of native lime ( grown in the grounds of the palace itself ) and slotted into ancient floral compositions which , but for a discarded cigarette in the grace and favour flats above , could perhaps have remained undisturbed for the next 300 years . |
| 5 | On the positive side CAMRA can point to the success of the independent brewers , many of whom would not exist today but for the interest in cask ale generated by the Campaign . |
| 6 | Never did I speak for the truth 's sake but for my own … ‘ |
| 7 | The commentaries would not be designed for the general reader but for the specialist , who , looking up Zapp , would find that the book , article or thesis he had been planning had already been anticipated and , more likely than not , invalidated . |
| 8 | But for all I know , the ICO could still be meeting then . |
| 9 | QPR are not good enough to finish in the top six , according to Trevor Francis , their player-manager , but they should have won and would surely have done so but for a mind-boggling miss by Andy Sinton when it was 2-2 . |
| 10 | The deal would have been done by now but for Venables 's reservations about playing two penalty-area sniffers together without an orthodox No. 9 to provide an aerial target . |
| 11 | ‘ I am not so complacent that I would say they wo n't become a formidable competitor but for now they are not , ’ Jonathan Martin , head of sport at the BBC , said . |
| 12 | ‘ I was bumped on to the rail six or seven times and I think I would have been in the first four but for that , ’ he said . |
| 13 | Barcelona had already been refused a penalty , but they soon drew level through Julio Salinas , the deceptively inelegant striker who has taken Gary Lineker 's reluctant ill-fitted role on the right wing and , on Saturday , made such a good job of it that he might have had a hat-trick but for Francisco Buyo 's reflexes . |
| 14 | Not so much for the platform speakers , who have arrived , but for some of the floor speakers , who have n't and would like to . |
| 15 | This was certainly true of England last Wednesday , their back line in such stark disarray , so frequently outsmarted and embarrassingly wrongfooted by intelligently applied Polish speed and trickery that but for Shilton 's alertness and determined auxiliary support from midfield they would have been overwhelmed . |
| 16 | Asterix might never have been born but for a chance meeting in 1951 with another cartoonist , Rene Goscinny , at the Paris offices of a Belgian newspaper syndicate . |
| 17 | Indeed , a popular view amongst community relations police in the area is that many more schools would welcome them but for intimidation , a factor which the community relations police have to be very sensitive towards if they are not to threaten the safety of children and teachers . |
| 18 | It is widespread to policemen and women in ‘ sandbag ’ areas like West Belfast that their typifications of Catholics draw a distinction between the majority who are decent and honest and who would have friendly contact with the police but for fear of the paramilitaries , and the small number of ‘ gangsters and criminals ’ who support or undertake attacks on the police . |
| 19 | She would never have received the money but for Mrs Marsden 's inquiry . |
| 20 | For later he also believed that the motor accident and its consequences could have destroyed his morale but for the tranquil worship of the little Oxfordshire village which for the time was his base . |
| 21 | New methods will come , no doubt , with the fruition of that research which the Home Secretary has urged and supported ; but we can not even claim to be using existing methods , when 7,550 prisoners are sleeping tonight three in a cell , and when policies which , but for the war , would have been on the statute book in 1939 , and have already been on the statute book for half a generation , have hardly begun to be carried into effect for lack of premises . |
| 22 | The resulting debris in musicians , careers would be disastrous , but for the MU . |
| 23 | Occasionally she could see a gleam in Rachel 's eye , as though she might suddenly ask him if his intentions were honourable , but for the first time in her life she learned to be grateful for her mother 's good manners . |
| 24 | Within Spanish art itself , on the other hand , the line is almost too simple : Goya was intensely aware of Velázquez , Picasso of both , but for Gironella the problem is not just that Picasso could be seen to have inserted himself into the next place in the sequence but that as a Mexican an unequivocal position in any such art-historical lineage is utterly unattainable . |
| 25 | But for Clark 's six wins , BRM might have had another world title . |
| 26 | But for its profitability and burgeoning client list , GM would never have taken over and the new Elan might still be an idea waiting for the cash to build it . |
| 27 | Nora had been naughty , much naughtier than ever before , but for the life of her Dorothy Fanshawe could n't remember of what that naughtiness had consisted . |
| 28 | Just the same , she would have been well ahead but for those policemen turning up again and wanting to ask poor Mrs Fanshawe more questions . |
| 29 | ‘ I could have stuck it all , ’ he said , ‘ but for the bragging . |
| 30 | Normally we 'd buy our meals from the downstairs kitchen , but for breakfast we had our own food so we did n't have to get up till late . |