Example sentences of "[noun] can [not/n't] [verb] to [be] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | Gazza can not wait to be one of them again . |
| 2 | Journalists can not claim to be above the law , but what they can claim , in every country which takes free speech seriously , is a right to publish first , and take the risk of conviction afterwards . |
| 3 | Apart from all else the concentration required to hear mentally an orchestral passage while seated in a bus or train or standing in the Underground can not fail to be beneficial . |
| 4 | Kevin Wilson was another who had a fine game ; he has developed into a player Northern Ireland can not afford to be without . |
| 5 | But with the tax collectors anxious to get their hands on every ha'penny , the Chancellor can not afford to be generous . |
| 6 | Nevertheless , sport can not afford to be soft on those who cause the problems — whether it is athletes who , as drug users , habitually cheat , or the spectators who take the law into their own hands and invade football pitches . |
| 7 | Russia can not afford to be flanked by newly nuclear states on its southern borders ; or to allow the ethnic strife in and between ex-Soviet republics to turn nuclear ; or to see extremists among its own fissiparous peoples demand independence on pain of nuclear terrorism . |
| 8 | The international community can not afford to be complacent , assuming that if the United Nations peacekeeping force is there that everything will go according to plan . |
| 9 | Under-fives workers can not afford to be concerned solely with so-called ‘ professional ’ issues . |
| 10 | Reforming officials within both the prison system and the criminal justice process can not afford to be merely reactive . |
| 11 | The therapist can not expect to be able to do it easily and accurately straightaway or every time . |
| 12 | Since young managers can not expect to be rewarded for good short-term performances , there is less incentive to work for short-term results at the expense of longer-term benefits . |
| 13 | ( a ) Murder and serious non-fatal offences ( except for games , chastisement , etc ) : a person can not consent to being killed , nor can one consent to grievous bodily harm . |
| 14 | To adapt to the increasing complexities of modern business life , an organisation can not afford to be a sluggish bureaucracy . |
| 15 | Although " commercial enterprise may have a legitimate and desirable object … that object can not claim to be the satisfaction of any of the three great national affections — the love of truth , the love of beauty , and the love of righteousness " . |
| 16 | Moreover , if the perspective is lengthened to include the Victorian period the observer can not fail to be struck by a feeling of historical déjà vu [ Kirby , 1981 ] . |
| 17 | Moreover , because the bad copy by definition can not claim to be copying anything but itself , it creates its ‘ original ’ retroactively , so that the copy precedes the original in a ghostly originary repetition . |
| 18 | The Government can not pretend to be concerned with security at army barracks and then , without regard for the soldiers , put them on the streets of London as easy targets for the terrorists . ’ |
| 19 | The Government can not pretend to be concerned with security at army barracks and then , without regard for the soldiers , put them on the streets of London as easy targets for the terrorists . ’ |
| 20 | Over a twelve-month period a field-worker 's persistent inquisitiveness is bound to become something of an irritant , and van Maanen notes how field-workers can not expect to be liked by all respondents ( 1982 : 111 ) . |
| 21 | It is widely accepted that one of the main factors contributing to the relative decline and adverse trading position of the British economy is a shortfall of investment in private industry , and socialists can not afford to be indifferent to this since the employment prospects and livelihood of millions of workers are at stake . |
| 22 | ANYONE familiar with York can not fail to be impressed by the pedestrianisation scheme which has enhanced the city in recent years . |
| 23 | In summer , field men can not afford to be too tolerant of pollution , especially with watercourses exposed to the greater scrutiny that comes with recreational use . |
| 24 | Children can not wait to be a year older ( ‘ I am five and three-quarters ’ ) , adolescents dream of marriage and careers , and people experiencing pressures of midlife may look forward to retirement and grandparenthood . |
| 25 | Even the most veteran balletomane can not fail to be moved by the production and the dying swan scene at the end brought a few tears in the audience . |
| 26 | They seem to be locked in a time warp but this has become their biggest selling point because , by remaining stubbornly unlike every other manufacturer , their instruments can not fail to be distinctive . |
| 27 | To say that the patient can not demand to be stabbed because he can not suspend the operation of the criminal law and absolve the other of liability begs the question , depending as it does on a determination of what the criminal law is . |
| 28 | These notes about social work practice where there is mental impairment can not begin to be comprehensive ; skills in this area are developing fast . |
| 29 | Visitors to West German cities can not fail to be impressed by the peaceful , car free centres served by integrated public transport systems . |
| 30 | Given its concern with the exercise of public power , political elites and government institutions , the modern study of politics can not fail to be sexist . |