Example sentences of "[not/n't] been for [noun sg] " in BNC.

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1 It must have been clear to the Prussian government that if it had not been for government subsidy the Junker estates would have collapsed under their own weight long ago , but they were nevertheless incapable of striking at what they saw to be the basis and guarantor of their state and society .
2 Had it not been for anti-depressant drugs and psychitaric help , he says he could easily have taken his own life .
3 Although the Church was slow off the mark following the population migration and concentration in the expanding towns during the Industrial Revolution , failure has not been for want of trying .
4 I am afraid that it has not been a success and that has certainly not been for want of effort from him but I think we just have to write that one off .
5 Had it not been for Unish and Belig and a few others , we would be there still .
6 Even his magnum opus , Perestroika , written in the summer of 1987 , contained the amazing notion in its first edition that ‘ if it had not been for collectivisation , we could have died from hunger in the war ’ .
7 But the project could have been lost to overseas had it not been for grant aid from the Welsh Office .
8 Jane Starkie , she , she would have been in the frame had it not been for penalty points during the cross country course , for being a wee bit too slow .
9 Jack always saw Piggy as a burden and if it had not been for Piggy 's spectacles Piggy would have been even more hated by Jack .
10 The whole room , scented with the Christmas goose , seemed to glimmer with warmth and merriment and if it had not been for fear of distressing the children , Alexandra would have been happy to burst into tears .
11 He would have lived a long and full life had it not been for Flodden . ’
12 I had no intention just then of attempting such a thing , but as I lay awake that night I realised that if it had n't been for Lili I might have felt it necessary to attempt to describe to someone , anyone , what I knew of God and what he had asked of me .
13 His wife , who was an invalid at the time , told the Sun ‘ If it had n't been for state benefit and my family , Jade and I would have starved . ’
14 ‘ If it had n't been for Sleet , then what ? ’
15 ‘ If it had n't been for Home Rule in the South , would Ulster have been ruled by Presbyterians in Belfast ? ’
16 If it had n't been for Desmond she would never have got through them .
17 If it had n't been for rock'n'roll , they 'd have dropped a bomb on someone else .
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