Example sentences of "[vb past] been a [noun] to " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | She told me she was sorry we were going , and we 'd been a credit to the school . |
| 2 | She sewed by hand when necessary ; otherwise she whirred the handle of an ancient sewing-machine , that had been a wedding-present to her mother long before . |
| 3 | During the Repubblichini period there had been a Secretary to the Party in Fontanellato . |
| 4 | In the study which Teresa Hinton and Richard Berthoud made of Money Advice Services , they showed how much the development had been a response to the increasing demands for help at a local level . |
| 5 | The most elaborate response for broad-ranging rationalisation had come from Britain in 1952 with the Eden Plan , but this had been a response to Britain 's anxiety about what the little Europe of the Six might achieve . |
| 6 | Cathy 's mother had been a martyr to her gruff , domineering husband . |
| 7 | Since the beginning of the fourth century B.C. the Celts had been a factor to be reckoned with everywhere in the Mediterranean world . |
| 8 | The flies which on the previous day had been a nuisance to them were now a torment . |
| 9 | His youth had been a misery to him . |
| 10 | No one had wanted to believe that Paula 's beauty went right through her more than Sally did for she was a shining golden idol as well as a sister and it had been a shock to Sally when she had at last been forced to concede , in private at least , that the other girls might have been right in the accusations they made . |
| 11 | It was obvious that the sight of him had been a shock to Tamar 's brother , but Davis was convinced that he had never encountered George before . |
| 12 | She accepted that it had been a shock to me , and she understood that I was feeling upset . ’ |
| 13 | Ken Noakes had been a brute to her , thoughtlessly and selfishly , and she realised it now . |
| 14 | Mrs Doran 's husband had been a loser to Phipps , both at golf and in the bedroom . |
| 15 | He boldly wrote to the King in defence of Anne Boleyn , who had been a friend to the Reformers , when she was to be executed on trumped-up charges . |
| 16 | And I still feel that you 're to blame for this : if you had been a wife to him he would certainly not have had to seek comfort elsewhere . |
| 17 | He said that had been a concession to them to allow families to stay together . |
| 18 | It had been a surprise to Loxford for ten years , previously accustomed , as rural communities are , to modesty and neatness in the pastoral dwelling-house . |
| 19 | The legacy had been a surprise to him . |
| 20 | But HIV changed all that : ‘ What , in another decade , had been a trip to the clap clinic was now a trip to the mortuary ’ . |
| 21 | There had been a trip to Yorkshire in April and another to the British Aquarist Festival in November , both of which had been enjoyed by all . |
| 22 | His abduction had been a blow to their attempts to show that they were bringing Lebanon to order . |
| 23 | That departure to university of a man far less intelligent than himself had been a blow to Stephen . |
| 24 | It would have been nice if it had been a decade to the day since the dog died that I exhumed its skull , but in fact I was a few months late . |
| 25 | While she had been a slave to her newly awakened senses , Travis had always been in control . |
| 26 | It was only at this late stage that she began to think about them ; they had been a means to an end , Frederica Potter 's removal from Blesford and Yorkshire . |
| 27 | It had been a game to him , to her — to everybody . |
| 28 | The justices purported to set aside the conviction 29 days after the finding of guilt and none of the convicting justices had been a party to the decision to set it aside , so neither of the two conditions obtained . |
| 29 | In exchange for this benefit , the holder of the bill of lading would assume the burden of becoming subject to contractual liabilities as if he ‘ had been a party to the contract of carriage . ’ |
| 30 | The country had been a disappointment to him . |