Example sentences of "[verb] [not/n't] been for the [adj] " in BNC.
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| 1 | If it had not been for the horrific blunder by their goalkeeper at Ibrox , Howard Wilkinson 's men would go into Battle of Britain II at Elland Road seeking merely to confirm the superiority of the English domestic game over the Scottish . |
| 2 | If it had not been for the extraordinary resilience of Hitler 's Wehrmacht and the fortitude of the German people , it would have done so . |
| 3 | ‘ If it had not been for the Liberal Democrats , the government would have lost . ’ |
| 4 | ‘ For my part I believe the African Jesus would have won if it had not been for the Dark Host . |
| 5 | And , if it had not been for the speedy response from the coastguard , the boys would have found themselves out in the open sea . |
| 6 | And if it had not been for the speedy response of the coastguard , the boys would have found themselves out in the open sea . |
| 7 | Floy thought he would have rather enjoyed this journey if it had not been for the nagging concern about Fenella , left behind in the giants ' hands . |
| 8 | They were bare and shabby and if it had not been for the pretty yellow cloths she had made for the tables and the yellow and orange cushions she had covered for the chairs and the blue vase full of roses she had asked Maria to place on the chest of drawers , then they would have been dismal indeed . |
| 9 | People like myself , would n't have had the bottle , would n't have dreamed of coming up here if it had n't been for the good work of people like Mike and Harry , who in my opinion do a superb job in training me , you , all of us in this union . |
| 10 | Simone 's gran , Gwen Turner , said : ‘ If it had n't been for the prompt action of these two ambulancemen I do n't know what would have happened . |
| 11 | It 's Sir Ralph Halpern 's view that if it had n't been for the current worldwide recession , many more outside brands would have been introduced to the UK market . |
| 12 | It was one of her own designs , but whether she would ever have worn it , if it had n't been for the interfering Roman Wyatt , she did n't know . |
| 13 | I am no molecular biologist , and would n't have dreamed of learning the techniques required to detect the immediate early genes , if it had n't been for the serendipitous arrival in the lab of a young molecular biologist from Moscow , Kostya Anokhin ( grandson of the psychologist and physiologist pupil of Pavlov , Peter Anokhin , whose ‘ functional systems theory ’ I referred to in passing in Chapter 9 ) . |
| 14 | She would have rung him , if it had n't been for the tall constable standing meaningfully by the telephone . |
| 15 | If it had n't been for the long hair and the high heels , we 'd have thought we had a squaddie on our hands . |
| 16 | He felt he might even have given the captain a good run for his money if it had n't been for the damn man 's obvious advantage of height and weight . |
| 17 | Nobody would have known that he was planning to puff on home-grown cannabis in Wales if it had n't been for the ironic coincidence that another Mr Perkins had mistakenly opened a package addressed to the actor . |
| 18 | If it had n't been for the capricious whim of her younger sister she would have been hard at work in London at this moment . |
| 19 | ‘ If it had n't been for the native Africans in the community who rallied round , looked after my wife and kept leaving food parcels outside the door we would have been sunk . |
| 20 | Part of it was my upbringing , of course , but I could easily have had a violent reaction away from that if it had n't been for the inhibiting atmosphere in the company itself . |
| 21 | Just for a moment their fingers touched , then broke apart as they both stepped back with a haste that would have been comical if it had n't been for the sudden surge of sensation that arced between them . |
| 22 | Detective Inspector Gerry Wright says although she had heart disease she may well have lived for several years , if it had n't been for the sudden shock of finding two men in her house . |
| 23 | If it had n't been for the double glazing she would have been hurt . |
| 24 | Oh , perhaps they would have done , if it had n't been for the local newspaper . |
| 25 | And she might even have managed to survive that sort of difficult scenario if it had n't been for the alarming , almost intimidating atmosphere engendered by Ross . |
| 26 | If it had n't been for the triumphant glitter in his eyes she would have been lost ; as it was , he had pulled her zip down and was easing her dress from her shoulders by the time she 'd steeled herself to thrust hard against his shoulders with both hands and roll off the bed . |
| 27 | However none of these exhibitions could have happened if it had n't been for the groundbreaking work carried out by Lubaina Himid since the late 70s . |