Example sentences of "[verb] [not/n't] been for [noun] " in BNC.

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1 Although the Church was slow off the mark following the population migration and concentration in the expanding towns during the Industrial Revolution , failure has not been for want of trying .
2 Yes , but he has n't been for ages has he ?
3 Sleep would have come if it had not been for Hugh 's tossing and moaning .
4 Sleep would have come if it had not been for Hugh 's tossing and moaning .
5 If it had not been for Adam 's quick eyes we might never have seen anything amiss .
6 If it had not been for Elizabeth taking her in off the streets and giving her a home , then Tilly 's own life would have been empty .
7 If it had not been for Agnes 's willingness to help , poor Miss Watson would have been unaided in her weakness .
8 Even his magnum opus , Perestroika , written in the summer of 1987 , contained the amazing notion in its first edition that ‘ if it had not been for collectivisation , we could have died from hunger in the war ’ .
9 ‘ If it had not been for Tracy , I would not be a professional footballer any more .
10 It must have been clear to the Prussian government that if it had not been for government subsidy the Junker estates would have collapsed under their own weight long ago , but they were nevertheless incapable of striking at what they saw to be the basis and guarantor of their state and society .
11 Perhaps I might have recognized my own hypocrisy , if it had not been for Richard 's behaviour in the next months .
12 The whole room , scented with the Christmas goose , seemed to glimmer with warmth and merriment and if it had not been for fear of distressing the children , Alexandra would have been happy to burst into tears .
13 He was , by one account , " shattered by grief and almost despair " after Vivien 's death and , if it had not been for John Hayward 's help and encouragement , would have retired into complete seclusion .
14 But if it had not been for Hillary Clinton 's TV performance and George Bush 's Japanese collapse , neither of them might now be ordering the removal vans .
15 If it had not been for Jeremy 's displays of speed , power and massive wheelies , backed up by a courageous Robert Holden , these races would have been pretty flat beer .
16 Jack always saw Piggy as a burden and if it had not been for Piggy 's spectacles Piggy would have been even more hated by Jack .
17 But everything else had been alive and splendid in a way it had not been for years .
18 There would n't have been an Opera House at all if it had n't been for Joseph F Warden , the actor manager who settled in Belfast in 1864 with his actress wife Jenny Bellair .
19 If it had n't been for Anna , she 'd have been gone at sunrise .
20 In fact , if it had n't been for Granpa I would n't even have been made to attend the local elementary school in Jubilee Street , and ‘ attend ’ was the right word , because I did n't do a lot once I 'd got there , other than bang the lid of my little desk and occasionally pull the pigtails of ‘ Posh Porky ’ , the girl who sat in front of me .
21 ‘ If it had n't been for Sleet , then what ? ’
22 We must never forget , mind , either you or me , if it had n't been for Mrs Aggie and her yard , God knows where we would have been at this minute .
23 ‘ He would have been , ’ said Ruth , ‘ if it had n't been for Sarah . ’
24 If it had n't been for Willie 's attentive expression he would have stopped .
25 He went on , ‘ If it had n't been for Bertha sticking to her guns over the question of the house , I 'd have been married to Doreen by now — and that would have been a disaster . ’
26 ‘ If it had n't been for Home Rule in the South , would Ulster have been ruled by Presbyterians in Belfast ? ’
27 If it had n't been for Müller .
28 If it had n't been for Müller 's exposure , he might have been amenable .
29 If it had n't been for Arthur Billstock , I would probably have taken the same road as Mark .
30 I had no intention just then of attempting such a thing , but as I lay awake that night I realised that if it had n't been for Lili I might have felt it necessary to attempt to describe to someone , anyone , what I knew of God and what he had asked of me .
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