Example sentences of "[pron] had n't [been] able " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Thanks to Karen 's attack I had n't been able to pee , and when my organ switched from reproductive to urinary mode I realized that my bladder was bursting . |
| 2 | More likely the net was carried away because the ground was bone dry and hard and I had n't been able to push the stakes deep enough into the soil . |
| 3 | I had n't been able to do that for so long . ’ |
| 4 | I could say some of the things I had n't been able to say when I left him , because I had n't shared his feelings then . |
| 5 | Still , it was the hangover of that piece of moral cowardice at Lochgair station , along with everything else , that led to me feeling so profoundly awful with myself that evening ( after the train finally did get into Queen Street and I walked back , soaked and somehow no longer hungry , in the rain to the empty flat in Grant Street ) , that mum had to call me there , because I had n't been able to bring myself to phone her and dad … and I still managed to feign sleep and a little shame and a smattering of sorrow and reassure her as best I could that really I was all right , yes of course , not to worry , I was fine , thanks for calling … and so of course after that felt even worse . |
| 6 | Well , in fact I did n't know , not for certain , but I could n't see any signs at all of brassière straps or elastic waistbands which I had n't been able to help noticing on all other women . |
| 7 | I was getting hungry and frustrated because I had n't been able to enjoy any of it . |
| 8 | I even carried out a double-bluff of appearing slightly guilty for the wrong reasons , so that adults told me I should n't blame myself because I had n't been able to warn Paul in time . |
| 9 | But I can assure you that I would n't have lasted five minutes in what , by any standards , is a very tricky and difficult market if I had n't been able to cope with the work . |
| 10 | Michelangelo , da Vinci , Bellini , Caravaggio , Bernini — half the world 's art treasures in one country , and I had n't been able to travel beyond the walls of the Victoria and Albert . |
| 11 | He had set down the bag of washing on the floor between his feet , for she had n't been able to manage the washing since last year 's fall . |
| 12 | Previously she had n't been able to work out whether he was or not . |
| 13 | For a long time after she had died , she had n't been able to think about her at all , it had been so awful , but now she could . |
| 14 | And if she had n't been able to judge this from their dress , she would have from their voices as , one following the other , they said , ‘ Good evening . ’ |
| 15 | She always said she could n't have gone to Brownies at all if she had n't been able to cycle , for the distance was too far for her to walk , and there was no bus . |
| 16 | She had n't been able to read the signature at the bottom of the page , and that seemed wrong , somehow . |
| 17 | She had n't been able to read anything from the ice-chips that stared back at her . |
| 18 | She had been interrupted , she had n't been able to make him understand exactly what had happened to Christina . |
| 19 | Last summer when she had gone in search of Andrzej 's son , she had n't been able to bring herself to speak to him . |
| 20 | All that time , and she had n't been able to get him to look at her . |
| 21 | She had n't been home and she had n't been able to call in . |
| 22 | No wonder she had n't been able to find the door handle . |
| 23 | It was a pity that she had n't been able to use one of his handkerchiefs , a strand of his hair . |
| 24 | This time the hoof caught me half way up the shin bone , She had n't been able to get so much height into it but it was just as painful . |
| 25 | She had n't been able to decide whether he looked Mediterranean , Middle Eastern , or simply overwhelmingly , barbarously alien … |
| 26 | He could see from her face that that really hurt , and also that it was something she had n't been able to work out satisfactorily for herself . |
| 27 | She had n't been able to save Antoinette . |
| 28 | Anne had seen her going into my room , and she had n't been able to bear it . |
| 29 | But she had n't been able to hear what he said for the roaring in her ears . |
| 30 | With Julius , though , it had always been so very physical , and she had n't been able to stop herself from responding to that great flood of passion . |