Example sentences of "not have [be] a [adj] " in BNC.

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1 But it was thirty-one years later and recent scholarship has questioned whether the anecdote might not have been a retrospective invention .
2 Certainly it would not have been a respectable person , such as Hilbert 's gardener or cleaner , but most likely some unemployed derelict Adam had met in a pub .
3 This could not have been a simple financial investment , as the Grand Junction had manifestly no prospect of making any profit ; although its paid up capital was £420,000 , it was sold in 1894 for £6,500 .
4 Here , this view becomes converted into the argument that the refusal of treatment may not have been a rational decision or may not appear to others to have been so .
5 Certainly it would not have been a viable proposition if it had run into serious trouble within a year or so of its launch .
6 But although ‘ Tuxy ’ Girdle may not have been a youthful Hooligan , it did emerge that he had been running whores and he received a substantial sentence of penal servitude for the assault on the man whom the gang had suspected of being a police spy .
7 It is important to remember , though , that the production need not have been a full-time or permanent occupation , nor necessarily an urban-based activity , as the much wider pattern of small- and large-scale production demonstrates .
8 ‘ From a planning point of view it would not have been a major worry , although only the force staging the original tie could police the second replay because all the liaison work for the first match would have been done .
9 There is the possibility of some influence from craftsmen working to the south , around Water Newton , who specialised in the manufacture of geometric designs , but their work was based largely upon lozenge configurations and can not have been a major source of inspiration .
10 These grand buildings , both seminary and church , set in one of the most important squares in the city , could not have been a clearer statement from the victors of the Battle of the White Mountain .
11 But I do not mean to suggest either , he wrote , that it was all waiting and no doing , all sitting and no action , for though it was impossible to tell when the beginning would come , indeed , he wrote , there could not have been a real beginning if it had been possible to tell , for if it had been possible to tell that would have meant that there had already been a beginning , no , wrote Harsnet ( typed Goldberg ) , occasionally things were done , work was begun , though it was soon abandoned , it added up to nothing , it only showed me that I had been mistaken in thinking that I had indeed started .
12 Nothing in Swannell 's direction of his play persuades you that this would not have been a better home for Marrakech .
13 She glared at him , wondering whether the indigestible steak , swiftly followed by an early night , might not have been a better option after all .
14 The main room or ‘ house ’ , where the family gathered and worked and where the fire never went out , would not have been a suitable place for storage .
15 For all his undoubted talent Grayson may not have been a budding Ian Rush but he turned out for one of the country 's most famous clubs , perhaps not the best but certainly one of the best known — Accrington Stanley .
16 By this time Long would not have been a possible leader , and so the third contender of 1911 alone remained : Austen Chamberlain .
17 Although obvious , this would not have been a fruitful question to ask , because there was no way in which it could be answered .
18 Both Fanny and Henry enjoy literature so therefore we can predict that a marriage between them would not have been a total disaster .
19 ON THE eve of polling day the Prime Minister was asked whether , on reflection , it would not have been a good idea for him to have debated with Mr Kinnock on television .
20 ‘ But it would not have been a good cosmetic result .
21 ‘ But it would not have been a good cosmetic result .
22 Whether his survival was that of a cynical trimmer or one who had a paramount belief in the idea of the royal supremacy is impossible to determine , but he can not have been a good parochial pastor because of his persistent plurality .
23 It could not have been a bleaker one .
24 The ‘ impressive and general ’ wording of Article 23 was seen as demonstrating that the Convention would not have been a proper vehicle for a treaty which would have done the barely conceivable by giving other countries control over American litigation .
25 That might not have been a wrong number .
26 Some might think a little delayed public spending on roads would not have been a bad idea at that time .
27 On the other hand , if ATP wanted to demonstrate that they really are interested in the welfare of more than just the top 75 , as some of their lower-ranked members have recently suggested , then helping Birmingham through its current difficulties , which one hopes are only temporary , would not have been a bad thing .
28 I would n't say there was much between the two teams apart from the first half here this afternoon when United , I have n't seen United dominate a side so much for a very long time , and really , I mean you were here Peter , three or four nil at half time would not have been a bad reflection on United 's performance in any way at all .
29 There was no question of saying to myself ‘ better luck next time ’ — there might not have been a next time .
30 Now , Muze magazine may not have been a high profile organisation but it did provide a much needed platform for the flourishing Manchester rock scene .
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