Example sentences of "had been [v-ing] for [det] years " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | I am convinced that stuff had been accumulating for many years in this cellar and that Ernest Griffiths had no idea what was in there . |
| 2 | The US and North Korean governments had been communicating for several years at a low level through the US embassy in Beijing . |
| 3 | A report to the meeting said services to the region had been deteriorating for several years , with fewer trains running at less flexible times . |
| 4 | A report to the meeting said services to the region had been deteriorating for several years , with fewer trains at less flexible times . |
| 5 | The Old Stopfordians ' Association had been trying for many years to raise sufficient money to build the Pavilion , and indeed had sold the Harrison Towns field some three years previously for this very reason . |
| 6 | All had been festering for many years . |
| 7 | Reagan hammered away at themes which he had been developing for some years and which would be wheeled out every time he ran for public office . |
| 8 | Bernard and Laura escaped on to their sailing boat for much of the summer , a yacht they had been enjoying for some years now , and they pottered around Mykonos in Greece . |
| 9 | Another , a woman who was living , and had been living for many years in , in continuous adultery ! |
| 10 | Philip Larkin had already published two novels — Jill ( 1946 ) and A Girl in Winter ( 1947 ) — before he established himself in 1955 , with The Less Deceived , as the best poet of his generation ; and John Osborne 's first play ever to reach the public theatre , Look Back in Anger ( 1956 ) , was written by an actor untouched by academia who had been writing for several years and a stranger to all of them . |
| 11 | The garden city lobby alleged that the vested interests of London had worked against a decentralist approach , for which it had been striving for many years , and F.J. Osborn acknowledged in correspondence with Lewis Mumford that the Plan was a bitter disappointment to him and the Town and Country Planning Association ( TCPA ) : |
| 12 | The London General Omnibus Company had been experimenting for some years and , in 1910 introduced to the streets of London , their ‘ B ’ type , petrol engined , double-decker , opened top buses . |
| 13 | Nevertheless the king had restored to government and policy-making an element of continuity and decision which had been lacking for many years . |
| 14 | It may also have been that the government was unwilling to lend further strength to the clamour for the reform of the Official Secrets Act ( which has now happened ) that had been mounting for some years . |
| 15 | Duncan , whose health had been failing for several years , died in West Park , Elgin , 23 May 1863 . |
| 16 | And the NRPB 's move also emphasized a process that had been continuing for many years . |
| 17 | The power of Chaos had been growing for some years . |
| 18 | Profits had been falling for some years ; investment collapsed suddenly in summer 1974 . |
| 19 | In practice Anglo-American co-operation had been increasing for some years , but this was now expanded . |