Example sentences of "[noun] [pron] happened to [be] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | So we entered a genteel teashoppe/cafe which happened to be handy and ordered coffee , as so often before . |
| 2 | A priest who happened to be visiting my mother volunteered to stay on one of these occasions , but the screams drove him out . |
| 3 | As was so often the case , he sucked up nourishment from books he happened to be reading , finding parallels in the lives of characters to his own dilemmas and solutions . |
| 4 | She did not actually concentrate on the birds which happened to be there , nor did she feel any desire to feel them or encourage them to come near her — but she was quite able to relax knowing that they were there in the background . |
| 5 | Before being taken to the platform , he was introduced to those members of the Committee who happened to be milling around the entrance . |
| 6 | From time to time , almost absent-mindedly , he reached into his pocket and produced a sweet , which he gave to any small boy who happened to be near . |
| 7 | If tha does n't believe me , ger a bag of coil on thi back and I 'll get one on mine [ not something unusual for Amos who happened to be a coalmerchant ] and ah 'll race thee to t ’ top o' t' wood ! ’ |
| 8 | She spent more and more time off her eggs , parading about the yard , cackling as if demented and taking sudden rushes in whatever direction she happened to be facing when each fit of frenzy overcame her . |
| 9 | But , pushing him aside , she gathered her cloak around her , made so bravely from those two old plush tablecloths , and began to walk downhill — the direction she happened to be facing — until she came to St Jude 's churchyard where she sat on a gravestone , her head in her hands , and shivered . |
| 10 | It 's work I have some familiarity with because by accident I happened to be the external examiner of the lad who did it , Peter Williamson . |
| 11 | Would a Melanesian who happened to be one 's cousin five times removed be a relation or a foreigner ? |
| 12 | ‘ Well , he does n't sound like anyone I know , ’ I said , ‘ unless he 's a caddie who happened to be passing nearby and wanted to quiz me about any work available . ’ |
| 13 | Buddeke wrote bits of her speech into a notebook as he examined those around him and made note of the enthusiastic individuals who happened to be standing nearby , describing dress , attitude , or making little sketches . |
| 14 | Malcolm Rifkind , the Defence Secretary , intervened to say the army believed it would be ‘ grossly invidious for the choice of soldiers for redundancy to depend on whether at any given moment they happened to be serving in Northern Ireland , Bosnia , the UK or elsewhere ’ . |
| 15 | Storm Jameson , a woman novelist active in the peace movement , later recalled : ‘ For some years after 1933 I lived in equivocal amity with pacifists and combative supporters of the League of Nations , adjusting my feelings , in good and bad faith , to the person I happened to be with . |
| 16 | ‘ I 'm calling a friend who happened to be in London with me , ’ he drawled coolly . |
| 17 | George Taylor was collected and he and Mrs Oliver returned to the tobacconists ' to be joined shortly by PC Chandler , an off-duty policeman who happened to be in Higatt 's too . |
| 18 | It also transpired that parts of England ( east and south-east ) were put on full invasion alert at the time , but it seems that ‘ Cromwell ’ had been ignored in some places where the junior officers who happened to be on duty had not been let into the secret of what it meant . |
| 19 | He had an endearing habit at 10 o'clock of calling on each facet of his customers , starting with the lowest rank of airman , to " piss off " ; and worked through the ranks until he got to Kings ( and on this occasion it happened to be King Peter of Yugoslavia ) . |
| 20 | It was basically a group of people who happened to be around but very soon we all had titles and were constantly organising and re-organising the creating divisions and systems and methods . |
| 21 | To a large extent , their numbers were made up of tourists , people who happened to be passing by , people with time to kill , and people who simply fancied doing something different . |
| 22 | He was found by his father , Don who happened to be going the same way . |
| 23 | It was all very normal , very orthodox , so different from what Celia herself happened to be feeling . |
| 24 | Until recently , Peter had thought of Kate as someone to be avoided : a member of an alien species who happened to be Richard 's sister . |
| 25 | Certainly the constant parade of young men calling round for a chat and tea , if there was any , or to take the girls out for the evening were friends who happened to be boys . |
| 26 | I saw now what I 'd known all the time , only I 'd hidden it craftily from myself because it did n't fit in with what I wanted to do , that Terry and I had no basis for a love-affair ; we were friends who happened to be attracted to each other physically , which was far from enough , and by thinking it was enough we 'd gone against the very nature of our relationship . |
| 27 | They had an interest in playing golf together so specifically formed a society giving it the name of the road they happened to be in at the time — Worple Way , Harrow . |
| 28 | Detective Sergeant Brian Jackson was driving through the more prosperous part of Long Eaton , a village on the outskirts of Nottingham which happened to be just over the Derbyshire border . |
| 29 | She would n't mention the boy who 'd made trouble unless for some reason she happened to be asked about him , and she felt she would not be . |
| 30 | Then one of the travelling craftsmen came out from the town and lined the cart , trap or wagon we happened to be making : that means he painted the finishing touches , the lines on the wheels and the panels . |