Example sentences of "have not been for [noun sg] " 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 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 ’ .
3 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 .
4 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 .
5 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 .
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