Example sentences of "[vb past] been a [noun] for " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | It was not necessary for him to know that she 'd been a widow for years . |
| 2 | ‘ I 'd been a partner for 10 years , I was 43 and could see another 17 years of PW partnership ahead of me . |
| 3 | He 'd been a parasite for too long , a mere copier , echoing other men 's vision . |
| 4 | Said her husband had been a member for years . ’ |
| 5 | Chief instructor Ron Barr said Mr McWhinney had been a member for at least six or seven years . |
| 6 | She had been a widow for 25 years and now lived in one room , earning a living as a charwoman . |
| 7 | Yet Elizabeth had been a widow for over ten years , and her children were very nearly off her hands ; it is quite possible that her brief sojourn in the workhouse was part of an attempt to give her life a new direction and meaning — perhaps she was there as a helper , a visitor , a counsellor to those in need , or even as a missionary spreading the gospel of Christianity in general or that of the Lady Huntingdon 's Connexion in particular . |
| 8 | The very next day , Sunday , I would have to attend the same chapel in its religious function , and the fact that the previous evening it had been a battleground for people who were supposed to be friends and allies , while the ‘ enemy ’ got on with his job uninterrupted outside , led to a more or less permanent confusion in my mind , which I now believe to be totally justified , between violence and religion , and between fact and fancy [ or film ] . |
| 9 | Bars that had been put there for their protection when the room had been a nursery for the four girls : Daisy , Ethel , Lily , Amy , the little daughters of Alfred Greenwood , founder of a chain of grocery shops serving the clothing trade of Leeds , in the West Riding of Yorkshire . |
| 10 | He was almost 60 years of age and had been a fugitive for 22 years , during which time he had had no permanent home , no source of income and little respite from danger . |
| 11 | Grandad had been a gardener for the local Big House . |
| 12 | ‘ He had been a prosecutor for eight years . ’ |
| 13 | David Moore had been a pilot for 25 years , flying with the Fleet Air Arm before joining Rolls Royce . |
| 14 | The eyes of the man in the doorway had been a reawakening for Sara . |
| 15 | He quotes Hennock who wrote , ‘ It seemed to many observers that there had been a change for the worse since 1835 ! ’ |
| 16 | Such a multiple attack had been a possibility for some time . |
| 17 | He said the buy-out had been a possibility for some time , but the two sides had only got down to serious discussions in the past few months . |
| 18 | Some claimed that the operation had been a reprisal for losses suffered two days earlier by the army at the hands of guerrillas of the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy ( FRUD ) , as fighting continued around the government-held towns of Tadjoura and Obock ; a five-day ceasefire , announced by the FRUD on Dec. 15 to allow for the deployment of French troops [ see p. 38565 ] , had collapsed the following day . |
| 19 | What we do know is that Lloyd George , despite his public stance of support for the National Government , thought , in private , that it had been a mistake for the Liberals to join it . |
| 20 | The party had been a crutch for the weak . |
| 21 | She wrote that a woman who had been a comp for eleven years had told her that the subject of a union had never been mentioned to her before . |
| 22 | Keown then left at the end of his contract after being unable to agree terms with Graham over a new deal — and alleging that the sticking point had been a request for £50 a week more than he was offered . |
| 23 | Their distinctive , disco orientated sound had been a vehicle for the launch of a series of stars , from Princess and Sinitta to Rick Astley . |
| 24 | The ‘ blockbuster ’ bombs were part of the IRA 's economic war , but there had been a tendency for people to despair of the political process , he warned . |
| 25 | In fact , there had been a tendency for countships ( and benefices ) to become hereditary long before the mid-ninth century : it was inherent in a social organisation where power and property in general were inherited . |
| 26 | James Soong , the secretary-general of the KMT ( appointed in June 1989 — see p. 36734 ) , accepted that the December elections had been a setback for the party but insisted that the process of democratization would continue . |
| 27 | She told me she had been a ghost for nearly twenty years . |
| 28 | Michelle moved on and soon was to be seen around Los Angeles with Nicholson , who had been a friend for years . |
| 29 | Whatever the exact circumstances , it is at least clear that Eliot vacated Carlyle Mansions quickly and deliberately — and that he left behind him a man to whom he had been a companion for ten years . |
| 30 | When they were driving along he encouraged her to talk about her father and from what she told him he knew it had been a struggle for her even to get a servant 's position . |