Example sentences of "[noun sg] [is] merely a " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Edwards and Rackages base their approach on the highly questionable premise that spectator violence is merely a playing out of tensions external to sport itself . |
| 2 | Cocaine is merely a recreational drug and , taken to excess , like alcohol or nicotine , it is undoubtedly dangerous , but judiciously used it can be a source of harmless pleasure , and even of intellectual stimulation . |
| 3 | German federalism is merely a cloak thrown over the relatively strong regionalism Which persists in Germany , and it was a system adopted by Germany , with the Allies ' approval , after the war as a way of preventing a return of totalitarianism , which is why the Germans associate federalism with the opposite of centralised power . |
| 4 | As I have already stated , I consider that that rule is merely a manifestation of the more general rule that the vessel must be operated from the flag state and that its use must be directed and controlled from the territory of that state . |
| 5 | Mr Groenewald admits that the use of force is merely a ‘ hypothetical option ’ . |
| 6 | Today Labour talks of investment to pull Britain out of recession , but its investment is merely a euphemism for public spending on an unprecedented scale . |
| 7 | Brewster is merely an old word for ‘ brewer ’ — which is why licensing sessions , held in the first 14 days of February , have that name . |
| 8 | This equation is merely a formal statement of the idea that the quantity of output supplied is primarily determined by the local price relative to suppliers ' expectations of the economy-wide average price of output . |
| 9 | He believes that the radical opposition 's shrillness is merely an effort ‘ to ring bells to attract attention . ’ |
| 10 | The writer 's work is merely a kind of optical instrument which he offers to the reader to enable him to discern what , without this book , he would perhaps never have perceived in himself . |
| 11 | Paul de Man is reported to have said that a literary work is merely an event in the history of interpretation . |
| 12 | According to this study , clerical work is merely an occupational category through which men pass . |
| 13 | Fibre/resin composite is used for the skins , which confer most of the sandwich 's rigidity ; the core is merely a light but compressively stiff intermediary that keeps the two skins apart . |
| 14 | Or , as Samuel Burler has it , the proper statement of relations between successive generations is to say that a hen is merely an egg 's way of making another egg ’ |
| 15 | Spoil-sports maintain that IR is merely a new name for what companies have been muddling along at anyway : arranging meetings between management and institutions , co-ordinating the annual general meeting , and producing the annual report . |
| 16 | It happens all the time — the question is merely an opener to fulfilling a wish to own something new , and merely seeks to confirm that the purchase is a worthy one . |
| 17 | The problem with this ‘ high ’ structuralism is that it tends to offer only an extremely objectivist account of social action , in which the human actor is merely a vehicle for the autonomous working of certain ordering principles . |
| 18 | He suggests that at this stage no object-notion has been formed , and imitation is merely a device for prolonging an interesting event ( 1962 : 85 ) . |
| 19 | Well , I give a vote that erm , because certainly not everybody 's aware that er , this er Service director is merely a way to get round to payments that different people have opt out of the social chapter . |
| 20 | For your information , finnan is merely a superior variety of smoked haddock . ’ |
| 21 | Pushed to its limit , the argument implies that content is merely a vehicle for process . |
| 22 | In a sense anti-perfectionism is merely a more radical restriction of the employment of means through which one may pursue conceptions of the good . |
| 23 | The nectar is merely a high-energy source . |
| 24 | It was Paine 's belief that England lacked a constitution , as he stated at p. 370 that ‘ the continual use of the word ‘ constitution ’ in the English parliament shows there is none and the whole is merely a form of government without a constitution , and constituting itself with what power it pleases ’ . |
| 25 | Here the tall and lanky Simon Lay , kitted out in high heels and hip hugging skirt , as Chrissie , the shy lass out for her first contest , evokes some sympathy but the character is merely a vehicle to introduce a stream of smutty dialogue into the proceedings . |
| 26 | Thus the existence of an alleged defence to a criminal prosecution is merely a matter to be taken into account in the exercise of the court 's discretion when considering whether it is just and convenient that interlocutory relief should be granted ( post , pp. 173D–F , 178H , 179A , 190D–E ) . |
| 27 | The time signature is merely a guide to the number of minims , crotchets and quavers there are in a bar . |
| 28 | The goal is to construct a spiritual unity for the nation , of which the state policy is merely a neutral servant . |
| 29 | As we know , the organisation of business er is n't their strong point at the moment , whether its been run ragged by their own rebels or clumsily breaking down the usual channels , seems our non-cooperation policy is merely an extension of the one that 's been working so effectively inside the Conservative party under the present Prime Minister . |
| 30 | For those believing in molecules of memory , the message is in the bell and its unique properties ; for those believing that memory is a system property of the brain , the bell is merely a part — albeit an important one — of the system , and to understand the message one must read the wiring diagram , not listen to the sound of the bell ringing . |