Example sentences of "[conj] they happened to [be] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | 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 . |
| 2 | 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 . |
| 3 | 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 ’ . |
| 4 | 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 . |
| 5 | It was alleged that at first the railway company denied that they had been travelling on the train at all , and it was indeed suggested that the two children were chance victims of the holocaust and they happened to be wandering by the railway at the time . |
| 6 | Especially if they happened to be Paris , Venice or Florence . |
| 7 | Alison had rung to say that she was coming up to London for an appointment and could they lunch at a restaurant to which they had both occasionally gone when working at Brentwoods , if they happened to be feeling affluent . |
| 8 | Long acquaintance with the clergy had convinced him that priests could not tell one layman from the next if they happened to be on their own administrative staff . |
| 9 | He seemed far more concerned to take money off the rich — especially if they happened to be Muslim . |
| 10 | To allege incompetence at playing the tuba would not lower most people in the eyes of their fellow citizens — unless they happened to be professional tubists . |
| 11 | ‘ Unless they happened to be a part of it . ’ |