Example sentences of "was [adv] [verb] [prep] [be] [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | One of his discoveries was originally thought by some to be wrong as no one was able to replicate it for nearly two years ; however , Fleischmann was eventually proved to be correct . |
| 2 | He was conspicuously trying to be brave , but it was quite clear he had been devastated by the experience . |
| 3 | The impasse in the latest round of negotiations was widely believed to be due to continued French opposition to US proposals for a cut in the volume of EC-subsidised cereal exports . |
| 4 | Saadi was widely believed to be involved in drug trafficking and corruption , and local public opinion had become increasingly incensed over the alleged involvement of members of the governor 's family in the death in September 1990 of a local teenager . |
| 5 | Marco Tulio Hernández , 28 , a member of the Honduran Human Rights Defence Committee and of the Committee of Relatives of Missing Detainees in Honduras was shot dead in San Pedro Sula on July 22 ; the military was widely believed to be responsible . |
| 6 | Lapper had certainly been guilty of conceit ( a wrought iron gate had been ordered with senior managers ' initials worked into it ) , but the sentence was interpreted as a politically motivated attack on wastrel public corporations , and was widely felt to be unjust . |
| 7 | But last year , when the team announced a sponsorship deal with TSB , he was widely reported to be 42 . |
| 8 | In 1858 Wallace ( who had also read Malthus ) hit upon the idea of natural selection and wrote up an account , which he sent to Darwin , who was widely known to be interested in the species question . |
| 9 | Doctor Maingay was fifty if she was a day but was widely known to be unmarried . |
| 10 | This situation was widely held to be responsible for Australia 's slowness in adopting new technology — automation in the motor industry was far less advanced than in western Europe — and for persistently low levels of labour productivity . |
| 11 | Atwater , who was thought likely to be given a ceremonial party post , was widely considered to be one of the key architects of Bush 's 1988 presidential election victory , but was suffering from an inoperable brain tumour . |
| 12 | In addition to his ministerial role , Richardson was a key spokesman for the ruling Australian Labor Party ( ALP ) in the Senate , and was widely considered to be one of the party 's most influential figures . |
| 13 | The result was widely considered to be indicative of the government 's increasing unpopularity . |
| 14 | An end to the worst bloodshed in recent years and the prospect of national peace and increased democracy was widely considered to be dependent on the successful outcome of three events taking place simultaneously . |
| 15 | Although the charge carried a maximum penalty of one year 's imprisonment and a $100,000 fine , Barry 's sentence was widely considered to be harsh for a first offence . |
| 16 | It remained unclear to many analysts , however , whether the " no " vote was a rejection of demilitarization , or the expression of general uncertainty about the preservation of national sovereignty , given that Endara owed his installation in office to the December 1989 US military invasion of the country [ see pp. 37112-13 ] and that his government was widely considered to be subservient to US interests in the region . |
| 17 | The government found itself derided for its failure to stand up for Serbia , assert Russian interests in the Straits — the focal point of nationalist aspiration — and face the confrontation between Slav and Teuton which was widely thought to be inevitable . |
| 18 | Their geological mapping was rarely found to be faulty by subsequent investigators . |
| 19 | The vital date was long held to be 1825 , on a work published by Pickering ; but other claims are being advanced , and some inexpensive fun may be had by searching booksellers ' shelves in the endeavour to push the date back a little . |
| 20 | It was all going to be secret . |
| 21 | Dolly was obviously set on being sociable for the whole evening . |
| 22 | Hungry and cold would have to wait until I could go back to the cafe , dirty was obviously going to be more of a problem . |
| 23 | The record only reached number twenty-five but the audience about to be touched was obviously going to be huge . |
| 24 | She opened the front door and stepped out into the corridor , which was more private than the flat if mother was only pretending to be asleep , which was possible . |
| 25 | Days ago she had decided to be good — she was being quite good — but she was only pretending to be good so far and all this appreciation was as yet undeserved . |
| 26 | ‘ I was only trying to be helpful . |
| 27 | In the case of upshot , it is the illocutionary or perlocutionary force , what the speaker is trying to do with his or her words , which is made explicit , and this may be prefaced by utterances like : ‘ Are you trying to annoy me ? ’ or ‘ What 's the point of telling me this ? ’ or ‘ I was only trying to be friendly ’ . |
| 28 | But it was obvious that the girl was only trying to be respectful . |
| 29 | The screw was only allowed to be effective where nothing could possibly be effected by its application . |
| 30 | Note that speaker 1 ( aged twelve — preadolescent ) was incorrectly judged to be white by nearly all respondents , but that the black group were slightly better than the white at identifying speaker 5 ( aged sixteen — adolescent ) . |