Example sentences of "[pron] had never been able " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | The nightmares stopped instantly after this explanation , and I was able to give lectures , stand up for myself and speak in public — all of which I had never been able to do before . ’ |
| 2 | I had never been able to understand them then , but I sympathized with them now . |
| 3 | I had never been able to do that , not with such unselfconscious pleasure , perhaps because deep down I had resented his existence which was preventing me doing all the marvellous things I had intended to do in the world . |
| 4 | I had never been able to persuade her to accept any money for her kindness and tried to reciprocate by doing any small repairs she needed to her flat , and by supplying occasional tickets for the theatre , for the tennis at Wimbledon , and for the races at Epsom . |
| 5 | Even when she was well , I had never been able to relax because I never knew from one day to the next how I was going to find her . |
| 6 | She had never been able to stand against those pale , cold eyes , that flat , unimpassioned voice . |
| 7 | She had never been able to equal her sister 's matchless beauty , she knew , but at least she presented the world with a fair imitation of it . |
| 8 | Riding one of Jennie 's fabulous dressage schoolmasters , Katharine was able to experience a whole host of dressage movements from flying changes to pirouettes that she had never been able to try before . |
| 9 | From somewhere in the back Cecilia could hear that sound she had never been able to identify and had not liked to ask about , a regular screeching as made by a bird in a zoo . |
| 10 | In a recent essay she claims to have had a strong sense of déjá-vu upon first reading theories of post-structuralism and postmodernism , for though she had never been able to articulate them clearly in conceptual form , she had discovered many of the concepts these theories present through writing fiction ( 1991a:165 ) . |
| 11 | She had never been able to talk about her fears with any of her friends . |
| 12 | In six years she had never been able to cultivate that devil-may-care attitude that seemed to characterise the gentleman at the Feathers . |
| 13 | She had a driving licence , which would enable her to drive the practice 's pet-ambulance , but she had never been able to save much from her salary . |
| 14 | Everything about him betrayed a man of enormous emotional strength who had never been able to commit himself . |
| 15 | In the second group , there were those countries , like Kenya , who had never been able to borrow much from the banks . |
| 16 | So with Amyas 's long , damp fingers pressed against her eyes , Jennifer was led stumbling into the passage , and on the way up to the house Sir Gregory tried to think how he was going to pacify his wife , who had never been able to forgive him for his infidelity and who had always resented the presence of his bastard 's daughter under her roof when she came to hear Mass . |
| 17 | We had never been able to afford to go on holidays — Dad had had to work all the time — so school holidays had been spent at home . |
| 18 | There was some shrapnel in one of his legs which they had never been able to get out . |
| 19 | They had never been able to like Sean Walsh , not since the very first day he had turned up at Benny 's tenth birthday party . |
| 20 | He had never been able to deal with the outside . |
| 21 | All his dealings had been with himself and that larger self of family which had been thrown together by marriage or accident : he had never been able to go out from his shell of self . |
| 22 | He had never been able to lose himself in a crowd , or dash off somewhere suddenly on a whim . |
| 23 | ‘ He had never been able to bring himself to talk about it before , ’ he said . |
| 24 | His nanny had scolded him over and over , but he had never been able to stop . |
| 25 | His war record and the fact that he had never been able to catch him redhanded whilst poaching appealed to his old world code of honour . |
| 26 | He had taken the name of Varna from the name of the port from which he had sailed but he had lived his life in terror of deportation , a fear that had haunted him long after it had ceased to be a real threat , so that he had never been able to enjoy his son 's success , seeing it only as something which drew unwelcome attention to the Varna family . |
| 27 | For him the girl in the picture ‘ was made to seem perfectly in context as he had never been able to see people before ’ . |
| 28 | Adam might have escaped the file memories for years , suppressed them and jerked violently away from them , but he had never been able to pretend he was unscathed by those events . |
| 29 | Fred was a kind , considerate man , uncomplicated and loving in his way , but she regretted that he had never been able really to arouse her fully and take her to the height of passion . |
| 30 | " Tricky Dick " Nixon was an astute party politician , but he had never been able to project an appealing public " image " . |