Example sentences of "could [adv] have [vb pp] a " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
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| 1 | D. N. Pritt in his autobiography told of his many political cases and of one which ‘ came before a judge of great experience and knowledge , so bitterly opposed to anything left-wing that he could scarcely have given a fair trial if he had tried ’ . |
| 2 | This , after all , was no ordinary case of murder and they could scarcely have picked a worse example to further their cause . |
| 3 | From her family 's point of view she could scarcely have chosen a more unsuitable lover . |
| 4 | Had we kept the scheme going , we could soon have accumulated a sizeable fighting force , ready to do battle on land , sea or air and happy to seize the controls of any passing battle-sub . |
| 5 | I could not have imagined a better companion . |
| 6 | Once she could not have imagined a greater disaster — all the garments she 'd been working on , with such dedication , day and night , for weeks on end now , had totally vanished , disappeared . |
| 7 | The population of Easter Island could not have exceeded a few thousand , so a sizeable proportion of the men must have been employed at the quarry , carving likenesses of their deceased relatives . |
| 8 | He felt that Woolley had no right to be so contemptuous , so damaging ; Killion alone could not have stopped a bombing raid ; besides , had n't he just destroyed two , maybe three of the enemy ? |
| 9 | Melanie could not have supported a laughing , singing Victoria for breakfast and Uncle Philip might have struck the baby , which would have been dreadful . |
| 10 | She could not have packed a more unsuitable set of garments for tonight 's escapade , but then no such prospect had even crossed her mind when she was leaving London . |
| 11 | In his summing-up , Mr Justice Caulfield could not have evinced a more robust hostility to the Official Secrets Act , sharing a widely held belief that it was long out of date and an intolerable interference with freedom of speech , and that it provided a justification for prosecutions ranging from the serious to the grotesquely ridiculous . |
| 12 | The decision is justified on the grounds that there was no guarantee that the plaintiff would receive any of the fine and that Parliament could not have intended a workman to be deprived of the chance to seek compensation for his injuries . |
| 13 | When nothing happened , the Brotherhood decided that Huw could not have lodged a formal complaint about their treatment of him , so — with some relief , and a certain amount of grudging respect — they let the matter drop . |
| 14 | Tim could not have made a better choice . ’ |
| 15 | He could not have made a finer creature in his own vats . |
| 16 | As confirmation of the significance Harry had detected in Heather 's photographs , Mossop 's retraced route of three months before could not have made a better start . |
| 17 | Holmes says : ‘ Steve could not have made a better start to his outdoor season and it opens up all sorts of possibilities . |
| 18 | Sheila could not have desired a worse profession . |
| 19 | Hollywood could not have created a better image of the middle ages . |
| 20 | To achieve it he had to work on individuals , exploiting relationships which were not open , public ones : he could not have called a meeting to appeal to everyone 's obligations as a relative by descent and by marriage , as if these were of the same kind as those of a citizen , an Arab or a Muslim . |
| 21 | He could not have borne a mirror in the room with him now , for fear of what he might see ; in his heart he knew that it would be unrecognisable , as he failed to recognise the turmoil of his own feelings as having anything to do with the self he had always known . |
| 22 | Even Hazel could not have said a word for his life . |
| 23 | He could not have milked a cow , and he poked pigs much more often in cartoons than in the farmyard . |
| 24 | He had scarcely known Maggie , could not have known that he could not have chosen a better treat than this mysterious park , with its vast statues carved out of the living rock : the huge-mouthed cave with its mighty teeth , the vast stone giant , his shoulders visible through bushes a hundred yards away , half hidden in greenery ; and above all , the great carved stone dragon with its broken wings , and wild Chinese eyes . |
| 25 | Mr Robin Cook , shadow Health Secretary , said : ‘ We could not have chosen a better issue to put centre stage for the first televised session of Parliament . ’ |
| 26 | Keld is a Norse word meaning ‘ a spring ’ and the first settlers here could not have chosen a more appropriate name for there is always the sound of water ; the little cluster of stone buildings occupies a headland thrust into the turbulent cataracts of the Swale , in infancy Yorkshire 's most exuberant river . |
| 27 | In retrospect , I know now that I could not have chosen a more co-operative species than the chub with which to begin a vocation in big-fish angling . |
| 28 | Paul Manville had to be given his due — he could not have chosen a more apt record to convey his message . |
| 29 | GRAEME HICK finally lived up to his tag as England 's saviour yesterday — and the one-time ‘ Boy Wonder ’ could not have chosen a better moment to put his wretched Test record behind him . |
| 30 | We had a beautiful Spring holiday on the Beauly Firth , and could not have chosen a better time to be there , with all the different kinds of foliage on the hillsides , and the spring flowers on the banks . |