Example sentences of "could have [vb pp] a [adj] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | If only she could have waved a magic wand to turn the fat girl into a raving beauty . |
| 2 | Nothing could have prepared a loyal , loving wife for such shocks . |
| 3 | Had it continued , however , the rebel university could have become a rival establishment to both Oxford and Cambridge . |
| 4 | The difficulty here is best demonstrated when Honderich , analyzing the notion that Conservatism is a ‘ defence of the familiar ’ , argues that if this were central to Conservatism ‘ we should have a mystery on our hands , the mystery of how an egregious idiocy could have become a large political tradition ’ . |
| 5 | The amount involved could have funded a dozen or so investigations of the social implications of the reduced rail network , or it could have kept open one of Serpell 's threatened stations — Stratford-upon-Avon , for example — for a year . |
| 6 | Hatton could have done a nice little distracting job there . |
| 7 | She always said she could have done a better job running the place than the Director or his boss , Controller Establishment Research and Nuclear . |
| 8 | I was n't very happy with my legal representation ; in fact , I think I could have done a better job myself . |
| 9 | Yep The Don was crap — I could have done a better job . |
| 10 | No-one can argue against or overstate what Sgt Wilko has done in this area , that 's why I believe no-one around could have done a better job , and why he is the best man for the future too . |
| 11 | Had the Home Office research shown that the majority of offences within reported crime were thought to be committed by people on probation , under SSD supervision , or on community programmes , one could have understood a post-trial response . |
| 12 | Oh I 'm alright do n't worry about me I 'm , they , the person at home , their family must be told as well as you making a note in your accident book that there has been somebody with a knock on the head however mi minor it is , it 's got to be reported , because that knock could have repercussions , it could have broken a small vessel in the brain , it could still be bleeding and that is when compression takes over . |
| 13 | ‘ But if Mellor had not disputed our bill we could have survived a few more months in the hope that we would sell several houses on our books . ’ |
| 14 | You could have built a substantial career . ’ |
| 15 | Mr Goldring said Bradley was transferred to a hospital in Nottingham where doctors found it difficult to understand how such a young child could have suffered a cardiac arrest . |
| 16 | Few voters could have obtained a real grasp of the issues at stake and hardly any would have been in a position to assess the leadership qualities of the candidates on offer . |
| 17 | They are the people who can refer clients on to solicitors and it is highly likely that the ‘ Advisory Liaison Service ’ and the proposed liaison officers could have played a significant part in making and fostering those contacts . |
| 18 | Badham ( 1981 ) has suggested that the basinal Lower Silurian shales to the west of the carbonate shelf facies could have formed a suitable depositional environment for mineralisation of the SEDEX style . |
| 19 | Perhaps the police had n't searched in there ; if not , they could have missed a vital clue after all . |
| 20 | However , it could have hidden a greater reduction in flow in the deeper layers of the bowel wall , which may be the main site of vascular compromise . |
| 21 | Any of them could have hidden a secret staircase . |
| 22 | By stripping the Volta scheme of all the ancillary facilities which could have stimulated a Ghanaian industrial revolution , Kaiser and Reynolds succeeded in creating the conditions for one of the most prosperous aluminium smelters in the world … at what was then the lowest power rate in the world . |
| 23 | Whatever he wrote about Kirkwoods of past ages , no one could have written a better tribute to a family than did Thomson when he described Major Kirkwood and the rest of the present-day family . |
| 24 | Although the Poles could have exercised a military option in the north just as they had done in Silesia , by this time their involvement in a war against the infant Soviet state , over territories and borders in the eastern provinces , made this a logistical impossibility . |
| 25 | Nenna felt that she could have made a better hand at answering Louise if only Edward had taken the trouble to return her purse . |
| 26 | Parliament , had it been required to do so by the European Court of Human Rights , could have made a small , interstitial alteration of the law by , for example , merely amending the relevant section of the Birth and Death Registration Act 1953 ; or used the opportunity to undertake a wholesale revision of the law as it affects transsexuals . |
| 27 | ‘ I could have made a real mess of that hole , but I took a calculated gamble and it paid off , ’ added Faldo , who walked off the green with a bogey four — one shot less than he registered in the first round . |
| 28 | I could have made a real fortune becoming Mr Vietnam , I could have hit the lecture circuit , I could have spun it out into a fabulous little industry , but that 's not interesting . |
| 29 | Perhaps only Barrie could have made a successful match between two such unpromising characters — a man who boasts that he has never laughed in his life and a woman who is acutely aware of being devoid of charm . |
| 30 | It 's tricky , as someone who skis and mountaineers , to whine about the encroachment of ski developments in Scotland , especially when the developers of Aonach Mor spilt so much ink about how they were ‘ conservation friendly ’ , they could have made a major motion picture out of their press releases . |