Example sentences of "ca [not/n't] do " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Reading around for background to Shakespeare is valuable , and you ca n't do better than begin with the Harley Granville Barker 's Prefaces to Shakespeare , which analyse the plays from both a scholarly and dramatic angle , without being ponderously academic . |
| 2 | Perhaps radio will allow me to play all the unsuitable roles that I ca n't do visually in the theatre , where it 's just the voice and the character . |
| 3 | He gives an example about lifting a heavy weight and doing a multiplication sum at the same time and says you ca n't do it . |
| 4 | ‘ You ca n't do that there here , I 'm afraid , ’ said Bramble affably . |
| 5 | ‘ You ca n't do that . ’ |
| 6 | For one thing , the criticism could easily rebound on the people who run these places , when in most cases they know how bad things are themselves but they ca n't do much about it . |
| 7 | I ca n't do a thing with my carrots |
| 8 | And just selfish enough to demand that momma bird flies back to the bloody nest — surely to God not tonight , you ca n't do this to me , Lucy , I 'm going to crack with all this nothing . |
| 9 | ‘ You ca n't do now . |
| 10 | ‘ You learn what they can and ca n't do and that experience becomes useful as you go on . |
| 11 | But , as Porfiry tells him , ‘ You ca n't do without us ' . |
| 12 | We ca n't do anything we want within the group . ’ |
| 13 | Others ca n't do that : they have n't got the records to choose from . ’ |
| 14 | A few scenes stood out awkwardly : Robyn soothing her tearful female student who ca n't do her essay because has to do a bit of modelling to make up her grant ( 'It 's not fair , ’ she sobs , in one of the script 's less ingenious lines ) ; Robyn 's unlikely outburst at a Pringle meeting when an Asian worker is nominated for sacking . |
| 15 | He ca n't do anything else . |
| 16 | ‘ What right do people have to tell anybody they ca n't do something they like ? |
| 17 | There 's not much else you can do , like , if a law 's not being broken you ca n't do anything . |
| 18 | In the towns they drink wine and liqueurs , but we ca n't do that in the villages … the result is that the gents can drink , but it 's forbidden to the lower classes . ’ |
| 19 | You ca n't do that , because unless everyone is identical , the average will always be somewhere around the middle . |
| 20 | Frequently there is no contact number , so even if we like the music , we ca n't do much about it . |
| 21 | Some usherettes could n't carry the icecream trays : ‘ I ca n't do it , Mr Norden , I come over funny if I walk backwards . ’ |
| 22 | I was only seventeen and the girl would say , ‘ I ca n't do the ice creams today , it 's my time of month . ’ |
| 23 | Ten days later she 'd say , ‘ I ca n't do it , it 's my time of month . ’ |
| 24 | Well , Malcolm , I said I ca n't do this any more , it 's quite obvious . |
| 25 | Yet , although we had n't thought of a name , we 'd started to fancy doing a couple of gigs and , of course , you ca n't do gigs without a name . |
| 26 | If they ca n't do that they simply have to go . |
| 27 | But you ca n't do that with people . |
| 28 | At 2 or 3 hours notice we may have to go to Manchester ; the women ca n't do that . |
| 29 | The women ca n't do that , those who are married because they are married and those who are not married because they are not married . |
| 30 | Oh they ( the TUC ) talk — they make rules and regulations ; we ca n't make any hunger strike , we ca n't make any demonstration , we ca n't make any mass picket , ca n't do anything . |