Example sentences of "[pers pn] happened to [be] [verb] " in BNC.
Next page| No | Sentence |
|---|---|
| 1 | And I 'm awfully glad I happened to be passing . |
| 2 | ‘ I happened to be passing — hope you do n't mind me barging in like this . |
| 3 | I was confusing those regulations with some others , because I happened to be dealing with the lack of adequate time for the disability working regulations . |
| 4 | Initially I happened to be watching a monitor at the BBC on which was an item about a group of French musicians who played their music on glass tubes . |
| 5 | It was one evening when I happened to be valeting him , Mr Charles told me he had come across my father some years earlier while a guest at Loughborough House — the home of Mr John Silvers , the industrialist , where my father served for fifteen years at the height of his career . |
| 6 | I happened to be looking for somewhere to mount a small African sculpture I had bought and came upon De Biasi in Tottenham Mews just off Tottenham Court Toad . |
| 7 | Beatrice described his assaults in her fluent , showy style , the nights when Modigliani came home drunk : ‘ If I happened to be drunk too , there was a great scene ! |
| 8 | You see , I happened to be born in this house , so naturally I take a rather personal interest in its occupants . ’ |
| 9 | A piece of land where I happened to be born . |
| 10 | Cork is where I happened to be born . |
| 11 | Oh and I happened to be standing in the back kitchen you know and I got hold of this saucepan and I picked my little brother up and put him under my arm in case he got hurt and I oh I belted my father from his head to his feet with the saucepan . |
| 12 | At that time I happened to be running the scheme as a leader and officer in the Stornoway Sea Cadet Corps and the boy 's mother had asked me to attend in her place . |
| 13 | I happened to be walking past the kitchen yesterday when I heard you calling to someone named William . ’ |
| 14 | He was exiting the Commons Chamber at the end of Prime Minister 's Question Time and I happened to be walking along the corridor which he was entering . |
| 15 | Yeah I se well I happened to be coming home from school cos I thought there was a the hearse coming and then I watched two mourning cars two flashy great big things ! |
| 16 | He was glad that Henry had n't waived the charge altogether ; you would n't expect an electrician to rewire your house for free , just because you happened to be acquainted . |
| 17 | Today she happened to be wearing the dress of violet-coloured wool which was the last thing Miss Statham had made for her — drifts of its full skirt could be seen at the front of her grey squirrel coat . |
| 18 | He ran both hands up into the roots of her hair , which she happened to be wearing down , and tried to plant a kiss on her forehead . |
| 19 | She spent more and more time off her eggs , parading about the yard , cackling as if demented and taking sudden rushes in whatever direction she happened to be facing when each fit of frenzy overcame her . |
| 20 | But , pushing him aside , she gathered her cloak around her , made so bravely from those two old plush tablecloths , and began to walk downhill — the direction she happened to be facing — until she came to St Jude 's churchyard where she sat on a gravestone , her head in her hands , and shivered . |
| 21 | She would n't mention the boy who 'd made trouble unless for some reason she happened to be asked about him , and she felt she would not be . |
| 22 | It was n't purely coincidental that she happened to be carrying the details of previous work experience , for she 'd expected that the secretarial agency might want to see them . |
| 23 | It proved a disastrous union — ‘ Salo ’ , the inferior player , became brutally jealous of his wife 's game , and accused her of flirting with whomever she happened to be playing . |
| 24 | I could n't see many people ; most of the lights had been turned off , and we happened to be sitting in the patch of light thrown by one small lamp . |
| 25 | We happened to be talking about the diary habit which , nowadays , seems to be largely confined to politicians . ’ |
| 26 | Then one of the travelling craftsmen came out from the town and lined the cart , trap or wagon we happened to be making : that means he painted the finishing touches , the lines on the wheels and the panels . |
| 27 | It was alleged that at first the railway company denied that they had been travelling on the train at all , and it was indeed suggested that the two children were chance victims of the holocaust and they happened to be wandering by the railway at the time . |
| 28 | Malcolm Rifkind , the Defence Secretary , intervened to say the army believed it would be ‘ grossly invidious for the choice of soldiers for redundancy to depend on whether at any given moment they happened to be serving in Northern Ireland , Bosnia , the UK or elsewhere ’ . |
| 29 | The authorities had no option but to suspend the League , replacing it with three regional leagues in which men could play as amateurs , receiving only a token payment plus expenses , wherever they happened to be stationed . |
| 30 | Everything had an improvised , random air about it , as if people had erected new machines just where they happened to be standing at the time , next to the debris of the old . |