Example sentences of "[vb infin] preferred a " in BNC.
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| 1 | I knew Oscar would have preferred a quieter , less raucous venture , on a weekday perhaps , but I had to work on certain days and those days came up during his visit . |
| 2 | However the Occupational Pensions Board called for a pensions tribunal and Tony Thurham , chairman of the Association of Pensions Lawyers , said : ‘ Many pensions lawyers would have preferred a tribunal since it would probably have had greater powers and more staff . |
| 3 | We would have preferred a six-month trial period and controls to prevent abuses . ’ |
| 4 | He would have preferred a special health-service pay factor , but had to settle for an above-average offer to the nurses , who most certainly were the priority group , having fallen badly behind over the previous ten years . |
| 5 | He would have preferred a showdown with Gina , but it was fun to watch Eleanor fighting her by stealth . |
| 6 | I 'd have preferred a book that told a few truths , or even a few lies . |
| 7 | WHILE the European Commission refused to give any public reaction to the Tories ’ victory , senior Brussels bureaucrats made little secret of the fact that they would have preferred a more pliable Labour government . |
| 8 | It is no secret that many business leaders would have preferred a new assertive Chancellor . |
| 9 | Personally I would have preferred a review of what software exists , and whether I require access to a PC or a Cray supercomputer . |
| 10 | She really would have preferred a cup of tea , but could n't refuse when they 'd gone to so much trouble . |
| 11 | It seems certain that Louis-Napoleon would have preferred a prolongation of his power by legal means , but in the long run it was equally clear that he would not shrink from a confrontation with the opposition . |
| 12 | He believes fans would have preferred a more lavish packaging for ‘ Bizarro ’ and that its fierce edge might have been a reaction to signing with RCA . |
| 13 | Instead of a free subscription to an obscure journal ( which came with the registration fee ) many listeners would have preferred a decent abstract list — not to mention fewer unimaginative and time-worn presentations . |
| 14 | Personally , I would have preferred a more neurasthenic approach to the Berg — more febrile and phantasmagorical — and a slightly faster tempo for the first movement of the Stravinsky , as though it were the tightest clockwork mechanism . |
| 15 | Occasionally I would have preferred a more urgent tempo for the most turbulent responses , such as ‘ Seniores populi ’ ( track 6 ) and ‘ Tradiderunt me ’ ( track 10 ) . |
| 16 | He suspected that some of his departmental heads , particularly BH Morgan , the Works Office Engineer , and Stephen Mansell , the Maintenance Superintendent , would have preferred a more relaxed setting in his private sitting room next door , the low , comfortable chairs , a few hours of chat with no set agenda , perhaps a drink together afterwards in a local pub . |
| 17 | He would have preferred a spinning wheel for her to sit at , but one had to move forward with the times . |
| 18 | Unlike his younger brother , Nicu , Valentin would have preferred a life of anonymity . |
| 19 | On the other hand he could work at all hours of the day and night — much to the dismay of his advisers and household servants who would have preferred a more predictable routine . |
| 20 | McGovern appealed to the young , anti-war , reforming wing , while the hardened professionals would have preferred a " safe " candidate like Hubert Humphrey . |
| 21 | Ideally we might have preferred a juvenile actress , but with the restrictions on the hours children can work in Television we knew we could n't do it that way . ’ |
| 22 | The YCs speaker was implicitly emphasizing the commonality between national and international interests within capitalism ( or ‘ the west ’ , as he would have preferred a term which suggest geography rather than politics ) . |
| 23 | The decision in G. v. G. is of course now well known , but I reiterate it , since the matter has been raised in this case , that is that even if the appellate court would itself have preferred a different conclusion it must leave the decision of first instance undisturbed unless it could say the decision was wrong . |
| 24 | In the Liberal cabinet the majority was against allowing the PLA and Lord Devonport to be coerced by the Transport Workers Federation into a settlement ; Lloyd George and Haldane would have preferred a minimum wage for all dock workers and disliked Devonport 's intransigence , but were outvoted . |
| 25 | Finally , only a minority of self-employed temporaries would actually have preferred a permanent job . |
| 26 | Fewer would have preferred a permanent job ( 29 per cent ) . |
| 27 | If anything , the Sylvie of old would have preferred a noisy wake , frenetic dancing , a bacchic rite . |
| 28 | She would have preferred a romantic candlelit dinner for two , but even more , she wanted Josh to see David as one of life 's pluses and not as an interloper . |
| 29 | ‘ I 'd have preferred a bottle of Chardonnay to be quite honest , but that did the job . ’ |
| 30 | More than half of our first intake acknowledged that they would have preferred a traditional course , having the study of literature as its principal component . |