Example sentences of "[conj] [pron] happened to [be] " in BNC.

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1 A piece of land where I happened to be born .
2 So a Primary school headmaster , for instance , could find his school offering movement experience to children who had female teachers to the neglect of those children who were unfortunate enough to have a man as their teacher , and similarly , Movement and Drama appeared as a subject on the time-table in our Secondary schools where there happened to be a woman in the P.E .
3 Nylons for the women , Coke for the kids and guns for the men to go on fighting ‘ Germins ’ or ‘ Reds ’ or whoever happened to be next in the firing line , that was William 's grandad 's uncluttered view of world history .
4 Everything had an improvised , random air about it , as if people had erected new machines just where they happened to be standing at the time , next to the debris of the old .
5 Incidentally , in such cases identity of interest produced a close symbiosis between the large producers — where they happened to be natives and not themselves foreigners — the great trading houses and compradore interests of the export/import ports , and the policies of the states representing the European markets and suppliers .
6 In fact , when all his debts were paid off , the money was quickly spent and he soon found himself waiting to collect his $55 a week on the unemployment line at 75 East 13th Street , where he happened to be caught by an eagle-eyed Life photographer before the film 's release .
7 It was n't purely coincidental that she happened to be carrying the details of previous work experience , for she 'd expected that the secretarial agency might want to see them .
8 Martin Martin notes that on a small rocky island to the south of Skye there is ‘ a great quantity of scurvey-grass , of an extraordinary size , and very thick ; the natives eat it frequently , as well boiled as raw : two of them told me that they happened to be confined there for the space of thirty hours , by a contrary wind ; and being without victuals , fell to eating this scurvey-grass , and finding it of a sweet taste , far different from the land scurvey-grass , they ate a large basketful of it , which did abundantly satisfy their appetites until their return home ’ .
9 The fact that they happened to be sites where nuclear waste was already produced , where there might be a flicker of acceptance from the local population , and appeared to have been chosen more from expediency than science , did n't seem to embarrass the already embattled industry .
10 We would n't have got on to it except it happened to be a post office where the little old lady is careful and takes a note of the numbers of anything over a fiver .
11 According to author Dr Eve Roman , ‘ it made no difference whether a woman worked on a VDU as part of her general day , whether she just used it occasionally or whether her only contact with a VDU was that it happened to be in the same room ’ .
12 This occurred on take-off one evening and I happened to be in the Met Office at the time .
13 Oh and I happened to be standing in the back kitchen you know and I got hold of this saucepan and I picked my little brother up and put him under my arm in case he got hurt and I oh I belted my father from his head to his feet with the saucepan .
14 He was exiting the Commons Chamber at the end of Prime Minister 's Question Time and I happened to be walking along the corridor which he was entering .
15 That 's not too bad actually except the day the young men loaded it back onto the trailer when we 'd finished and it was one of these corners , and I happened to be muggins on the corner where that lever was , and he had n't tied it , it was only in the ratchet , you know , he should have tied it of course .
16 Beatrice described his assaults in her fluent , showy style , the nights when Modigliani came home drunk : ‘ If I happened to be drunk too , there was a great scene !
17 He would burst into the office singing , and if I happened to be there he would rush over and ruffle my hair , and exclaim , ‘ Here she is , the wee lassie !
18 Well it was a town then but since then it 's been made a city , you see , and I got to know all kinds of people and one gentleman came in there , used to come every evening and write a book and er , I used to look after him if I happened to be that end and er , you see , and then he 'd say , oh just an exchange you know about the weather and just in general thing and then I 'd leave him and he 'd get on with his writing and one day he said to me .
19 Cos I happened to be out on Road , when it happened
20 ‘ I guess I threw myself at you because of everything that had happened between Jonathan and myself ; I guess I was just looking for a diversion and you happened to be in the right place at the right time . ’
21 He was saved by a radio engineer who had studied in England and who happened to be monitoring the audition .
22 And she happened to be a Christian .
23 His girlfriend , a dealer too , would give him a bored hard look , if she happened to be around .
24 Madeleine was his sole reason for wanting to return to England — although naturally he 'd love to see Alice if she happened to be in London .
25 If you happened to be megafabulously famous way back at the start of the '70s , the problems are literally multiplied twentyfold .
26 If you happened to be in Hyde Park on October 21st , you may have seen celebrities like Gloria Hunniford , Lyndsey De Paul , James Coburn and Roger Daltrey with spade in hand in aid of the Prince of Wales Trust ( they 're all devotees of Paul Mitchell products , I 'm sure ! ) .
27 We all had a good laugh about it , but it was not so funny if you happened to be Keith Fletcher .
28 After all , if you happened to be next him after dinner for ten minutes , he would get invaluable hints .
29 So if you happened to be out of the house working it was too bad , unless you got a house cleaner to put your name down for you .
30 ‘ And imagine what it must have been like before all those modern office ‘ towers ’ were built to dwarf it — especially if you happened to be a traitor .
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